McDonald's Thailand is giving away 100,000 cups (worth about 5 million baht) of free coffee around the country this week to promote sales of its new "Fresh Brew", marketed at a lower price point than most large-scale competitors.
The fast food giant faces stiff competition in the affordable coffee market from Amazon Coffee, which prices its small cup of coffee at 35 baht. McDonald's new hot fresh brew eight-ounce cup of coffee is priced at 19 baht, up to 39 baht.
Amazon has the largest market share for coffee shops, followed by Starbucks, which sells its smallest coffee for more than 100 baht.
The Chiang Mai-based coffee chain Wawee just got a massive investment of 2 billion baht by Berli Jucker Group to open 1,000 branches over the next five years in Thailand.
A basic cup of Wawee coffee costs 50 baht.
To beat out the competition, McDonald's will be offering select hot and iced coffees free on Jan 7-11, 14, 21 and 28.