Rethinking the Coffee Shop Experience
As an engineering student studying design, I spend a good deal of time asking “What if” questions. A few days ago, a classmate and I started tearing apart the coffee shop experience and asking “What if a coffee shop was like ____” questions. Here are some interesting concepts we came up with which I leave you as food for thought.
One Price Shop- Cities like Boston and New York have single fare subway systems (no matter where you get on and off, you pay the same fare). This greatly simplifies the systems. What if coffee shops had a single price for all their beverages? This would greatly simplify the ordering process, and the barista would no longer be acting as a cashier half the time. When you walked in the shop, a customer would know how much they had to pay, thus drastically changing the interaction between the barista and the customer. Customers would then be paying for the experience of the coffee shop, instead of for the specific drink they are purchasing. It could also make point-of-sales systems a thing of the past.
Membership based shop- When you go to a health club, you don’t pay based on the amount of time you use the exercise equipment, but for the opportunity to use the club. What if customers could purchase a “membership card” for a shop which would entitle them to unlimited beverages for the month? An alternative to this would be to have a few different types of cards- perhaps one would only work before 9:00 AM(such as what they do at Aldo Coffee Company- http://www.aldocoffee.com/2005/03/tfc_friday_marc_1.html) another would only work for drip coffee and a third would work on weekday afternoons. This would be a good way to promote loyalty among customers. It’d be interesting to see whether shops would lose a lot of money on some customers (though it could also bring a lot of new customers in- who goes to a coffee shop alone?).
The $1 Coffee Card- Another alternative (which is different enough to get it’s own paragraph) would be to have a monthly membership card which allowed customers to purchase any drink for a set price (such as $1). This could insure that a shop wouldn’t lose money on any of these cards but still promote loyalty.
The Variable Price of Coffee- What if the “one price model” was changed so that each day you’d have a different price (or at different times of the day you would have different prices)? This could either be done randomly, which would incite people to say, “Today’s a $2 coffee day at Java Joe’s… we should go”, or based on peak times (so when the shop is usually empty, the price is cheaper, helping to equalize the demand).
A Wide Variety of Mugs- What if a shop had many different styles and colors of mugs? This could cut down on the confusion of “Is this small Latte mine, or someone else’s” during busy hours. Customers could pick their mugs, which means they could more easily recognize when their drink was ready. (This would be similar to Bank of America’s “Sitekey” technology which lets users quickly make sure that they are logging in to their account and not giving someone else their password by displaying a unique object and a user-defined phrase matching the object)
The Office Coffee Shop- What if coffee shops provided customers with additional services such as printers, and faxes. Customers could pay (on a monthly basis, or per page) for use of these items (or it could be included with the price of coffee).
Price based on Frequency of Visits- What if we tracked how often people visited the shop, and gave regulars a slightly lower price to reward their loyalty? Customers could be given RFID cards, which could be quickly tapped as they order. As a customer buys more, the cost of each drink goes down.
Note that I’m not suggesting that any of these ideas should be the future of coffee but rather just asking some provocative questions with the intention of getting people to think about why coffee shops are the way they are today. Some have definite shortfalls, and I am aware of that. At the same time, some could dramatically change the interaction of coffee shops.
Thoughts?
One Price Shop- Cities like Boston and New York have single fare subway systems (no matter where you get on and off, you pay the same fare). This greatly simplifies the systems. What if coffee shops had a single price for all their beverages? This would greatly simplify the ordering process, and the barista would no longer be acting as a cashier half the time. When you walked in the shop, a customer would know how much they had to pay, thus drastically changing the interaction between the barista and the customer. Customers would then be paying for the experience of the coffee shop, instead of for the specific drink they are purchasing. It could also make point-of-sales systems a thing of the past.
Membership based shop- When you go to a health club, you don’t pay based on the amount of time you use the exercise equipment, but for the opportunity to use the club. What if customers could purchase a “membership card” for a shop which would entitle them to unlimited beverages for the month? An alternative to this would be to have a few different types of cards- perhaps one would only work before 9:00 AM(such as what they do at Aldo Coffee Company- http://www.aldocoffee.com/2005/03/tfc_friday_marc_1.html) another would only work for drip coffee and a third would work on weekday afternoons. This would be a good way to promote loyalty among customers. It’d be interesting to see whether shops would lose a lot of money on some customers (though it could also bring a lot of new customers in- who goes to a coffee shop alone?).
The $1 Coffee Card- Another alternative (which is different enough to get it’s own paragraph) would be to have a monthly membership card which allowed customers to purchase any drink for a set price (such as $1). This could insure that a shop wouldn’t lose money on any of these cards but still promote loyalty.
The Variable Price of Coffee- What if the “one price model” was changed so that each day you’d have a different price (or at different times of the day you would have different prices)? This could either be done randomly, which would incite people to say, “Today’s a $2 coffee day at Java Joe’s… we should go”, or based on peak times (so when the shop is usually empty, the price is cheaper, helping to equalize the demand).
A Wide Variety of Mugs- What if a shop had many different styles and colors of mugs? This could cut down on the confusion of “Is this small Latte mine, or someone else’s” during busy hours. Customers could pick their mugs, which means they could more easily recognize when their drink was ready. (This would be similar to Bank of America’s “Sitekey” technology which lets users quickly make sure that they are logging in to their account and not giving someone else their password by displaying a unique object and a user-defined phrase matching the object)
The Office Coffee Shop- What if coffee shops provided customers with additional services such as printers, and faxes. Customers could pay (on a monthly basis, or per page) for use of these items (or it could be included with the price of coffee).
Price based on Frequency of Visits- What if we tracked how often people visited the shop, and gave regulars a slightly lower price to reward their loyalty? Customers could be given RFID cards, which could be quickly tapped as they order. As a customer buys more, the cost of each drink goes down.
Note that I’m not suggesting that any of these ideas should be the future of coffee but rather just asking some provocative questions with the intention of getting people to think about why coffee shops are the way they are today. Some have definite shortfalls, and I am aware of that. At the same time, some could dramatically change the interaction of coffee shops.
Thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jason Dominy on
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You're thinking outside the box on alot of these ideas, and that's always good. Even if none work, they push you towards something fresh, and that's a good thing. The one I know wouldn't be a good idea off the bat is the "price based on frequency" method. It's just not fair. There are other ways to reward loyalty. But keep the thoughts flowing. Some of these are in use in shops already, and are unique ways to differentiate yourself. (The "wide variety of mugs" and a variation of the "Office Coffee Shop.")
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Permalink Reply by Bel Townsend on
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I like these! In the cafe I used to run we tried a few experiments with the coffee too. We held special events, for instance, a writing competition where participants had to write a novel in 30 days. We got them to pay £2 for drip coffee - a lot in that place, but they were allowed a free refill if they proved they had written 1000 words. That worked extremely well actually! The more coffee you have, the faster you write - self-fulfilling prophecy. I was also catering for a lot of uber-cool, ironic teenagers, and once, as a piss-take really, put food colouring in the drip coffee and made it pink. They LOVED this, if not pink then green or blue or whatever. The food colouring didn't actually make it taste any different, but they were persuaded to pay 10p extra for coloured coffee... which goes to prove that people do actually pay for 'uniqueness'!
This kinda thing fascinates me anyway. Part of my research at the moment is looking at 'the coffee shop experience' - and whether or not people are coming into these cafes for the coffee alone, or the 'ambience' as it were; whether for instance, they are paying for the Experience of sitting in Starbucks, buying in to the brand or as a fashion statement, or whether they don't mind where they go, as long as the coffee is good. Unfortunately, it seems to be the experience that is worth more at the moment! But the 'experiments' you suggest could help to explain why that is maybe?
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