Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Caf Coffee Day was among the first coffee cafes to start operations in
India in 1996, but the last to go national. Today with so many cafes across the
country, it is probably the largest chain in the country. Their main strategy
being-Mix of inexpensive prices and product, Heed to customer needs and a
strong back-end support system. (Business model for Indian retail sector:The
cafe Coffee Day case:Interview with V.G.Siddhartha, september 2013)
Coffee has always been marginal in India; being the tea-drinking
nation. Although the coffee culture existed in Europe back since 15TH century
office so that customer feedback are read ,investigated and sent with a revert if
any serious complaint (Fram & Axelrod, 1990).
Caf coffee day experiments with various formats (like Cafes, Garden
cafes, Lounge cafes and Xpress cafes) (cafe coffee day, 2015)depending on the
target audience has been fairly successful. For example, Music cafes gives an
option for the customers the choice of playing their choice of music; Book cafes
helps readers and coffee-lovers mix into a taste of both; Highway cafes with
washrooms helping travellers to halt and relax and have a taste of delicious
snacks in a place away from home; Lounge-cafes defines luxury branding with
an addition of thematic music giving the coffee-connoisseurs an exquisite
experience; Garden-cafes gives an rejuvenating coffee feel all around; Cybercafes for enjoying a brew of coffee while surfing; also Sports cafes, Fashion
cafes are the new lined up formats to be launched .CCD has targeted different
genres of areas like high street malls, multiplexes etc. The growing income have
made unique customer experience long lasting and more valuable. Hence, CCD
are planning to include more types of formats to their portfolio like Book-cafes,
Movie Cafes and Sports cafes. (www.slideshare.net, 2015)
The strategy behind this being, at outlets having less footfalls during afternoon;
organizing launches of Books, having Movie-festivals, inviting the author of the
book or the producer giving the guest or the fans, at the outlet a taste of their
liking; also selling them the signed or autographed newly published book helps
the cafs to attract more of young crowd .They plan to upgrade this new
strategy for around 15% of the stores depending on the location and clientele.
CCD offers a variety in their menu for the guests; ranging from small bites,
toasties, sweet course, sundaes to different type of combo meals including
coffee and deserts or coffee and sandwiches. Since the new items on the menu
are introduced in the menu on a frequent basis, customers get a very different
experience of the food-items at CCD. Say for example, we have an option of
buying rolls or wraps or samosas or deserts with the respective beverages they
are paired with (chilli cheese toastizza + Cappuccino/Iced coffee/tea is one of
the best-selling combos of CCD) (cafe coffee day, 2015).The famous beverages
served at CCDS are also unique because they not only serve coffees and teas
but also a choice of refreshers and smoothies. The wide variation in hot coffees
and cold coffees are again an attraction for the guest. The different coffee blends
are Frappes, Tropical iceberg, Aztec, Ethiopian, Caf mocha etc. where Vegan
shake and frappes being the most selling among the cold ones. While on the
other hand, the menu for the lounges and the square are quite elaborative and
different from the regular cafes. These menus are specially designed keeping the
likes of the working-class and families in mind. They savour flavours of
sandwiches like Crispy veggie delight or Smoked chicken to pizzas; from
Mealtime cravers like pasta, khaowsuey to anytime cravers like chicken wings,
fries or a platter. Their beverages gives an exclusive feeling of the coffee-lounge
distinguishing them from the regular cafes. They introduced the coffee-mock
tails such as coffee-gola, choc-orange, cinapple; refreshers like twisted-berry
tea, tangy curacao; smoothies, cold-coffees, teas, hot-coffees leaving an eternal
imprint. Also, the deserts are so sensational, decadent, mouth-watering and
tongue-tantalizing (melting moments, rich chocolate temptation) that anyone
could hardly deny. The main eye-catcher of CCD, is the menu-pricing; which
when compared to any coffee-chain would vary because it is very affordable.
Are this, but also the pricing within the cafes are different considering the
location and clientele. Apart from the food and beverages served in their outlets
they do induce themselves in promoting and selling various non-consumable
items. Those are termed as coffee-merchandises. A main attraction of all the
outlets being the display of these merchandises; an eye-catcher for all the guests
walking in the caf. These merchandises include a variety of products like
Coffee-powder, Coffee-machines, cups and mugs with the logo of the brand,
chocolates and cookies, modified mugs, cup and saucer set; also apparels and
accessories. All these products become a very unique gifting options for the
guest as a part of hampers at a very affordable price. These products are
available at all outlets on demand. Similarly, products could be purchased
online. One of the ultra-selling points of the cafes are the Caf moments card.
This card is basically the prepaid card of the coffee shop which is applicable in
all the outlets of CCD. The customer or the guest just has to buy this card with a
minimal amount of balance in it which is fairly equal to a sum of 100 rupees or
more. This sum of amount could be used to purchase any product at the outlet.
The process is inexhaustible as the consumer can fill as much as he can and use
wherever. The transactions made by the consumer comes in the form of text
message on his personal number; making it easy for him to keep a track of it.
CCD outlets also deal with business to business services such as bulk-orders,
catering services if required, providing coffee-peddling machines and
advertising room. Apart from the products, the ambience plays a vital role as it
gives a very young-looking look. The dcor, interiors and the fixtures are
designed in a way which is very vibrant same at caf levels, lounges and the
square setting them apart from other coffee-shops. The colour of the shops for
cafs, lounges and square are violet, sea-green and brown respectively. The
walls of the cafes executes branding for pictorial communication with very less
number of words. (W.Reinartz, 2011)
Furthermore, the service encounters at CCD is quite similar to the
standard food and beverage service formats yet has its own typicality. As the
guest enters, they find all dimensional posters on the glass-door. The guest is
received, greeted and seated by the employee on their visit. Then held over by a
menu card; so while deciding they can enjoy the feel and atmosphere of the
caf. The employee take the order passes on to the Brew-master and the kitchen
where they update the orders on the billing machine and then prepare orders.
The orders are to be served according their specific serving timings adhering to
the operation standards. The bill is presented to the guest after taking their
feedback of their experience which could be settled in the form of cash or credit
card. The unique characteristic of the service standards are that they are
different at different outlet levels (Berry & L.L, 1986). For illustration, the
lounges and the square have a proper dine-in format where the orders are taken
at the table, whereas at the caf levels guest can either place their orders, pay
and take their orders to the table or place and pay for the order and it gets served
to their table. In this semi-self-service format they have come up with giving the
guest the table numbers to avoid confusion or delays. The factors that sets the
lounges or square apart from the cafes are not just their formats but also that
these lounges or square have an in built kitchen where the raw-materials are
used to cook the products whereas the cafes have products with a shelf-life
which are heated and given. They follow a very strict policy of storing the
foods, serving them at the right temperature and keeping the expiry of every
single food and beverage product in mind; which is the duty of every employee
of CCD. Employees contribute major role in the service operations. Strict
uniform codes for employees are maintained all across. They are well trained to
be soft-spoken, friendly behaviour and a rigorous training on the products of
CCD is given. They are taught to be agreeable, well-mannered and optimistic
towards the guest. They are also involved in customer engagement activities.
(Grise & Havner,M.A, 1990)Thus ensuring service qualities such as
dependability- quality and quantity provided with a promise to serve the best;
pledge-a dedication from the employees to convey trust and confidence;
tangibility-the physical features of the cafes; Empathy- the caring and personal
attention towards the guest hence justifying their mission, To be the best caf-
(www.slideshare.net, 2015)
(Google
Image,
2015)
The customer value scheme includes recognising the target client, defining the
benefits to the customer from the intake point of view and based on the same,
scheming the contributions which satisfy consumer needs. The positioning
scheme would be in accordance with who suggest that every retailer needs to be
the best in one of five vibrant situations (hot-est, easy-est, big-est, quick-est or
cheap-est; fine-est added here) while being acceptable in all other conditions. Or
else, in their effort to be the best in all magnitudes (being the whole kit and
caboodle to everyone), stores enter into sales black hole (point of no profit). The
customer value proposition for Caf Coffee Day (retail business) is given in the
table below. (Chiang, 2013)
Family/upper
middle/upper class
Well-off/international
Benefits
Recreation, decent price,
suitability with coffee and
food
Quality and variability of
food and coffee with instore involvement, quality
time
World-wide caf
experience in India
Single serve/travel
Excellence, convenience
Family/Connoisseur
Class, convenience
Offerings
Positioning
Caf Coffee
Easy-est
Day Express
Caf Coffee
Day Lounge
Caf Coffee
Day Square
Capsule and
Drizzle
Coffee Day
Fresh and
Ground
Big-est
Hot-est
Easy-est
Fine-est
pictorials, cleanliness, product value or product quality, Service by the staff etc.
The customer expectations are nothing but their perceptions about the
particularities expected by them from a service-provider. There is a thin line
between a customers expectation and the satisfaction gained by his or her
experience. The majority customers going to CCD expect low-pricing, a
soothing place to chill which they get out of CCD. CCD has made fair-efforts to
lessen the gap between the perceptions of the consumer and the experience
delivered by CCD (Zeithmal, 1988). For example, in a busy coffee-outlet not
every guest expects prompt service, but the staff of CCD leaves no stone
unturned to surprise the guest. This gap is also removed because of excellent
service patterns and standards of employee performance. At CCD, all guest
concerns, queries, requests and orders to ensure that all the customers coming to
CCD are satisfied and if not the feedback always works because its the
feedback by which the management of CCD takes initiative to bring in new
standards and value to customer requirements. The information is also gathered
from the internal people who make the organisation run. Their views,
managerial valuations and observation are considered while executing actions to
satisfy the customers. The information from the competitors, dealers and
officials as a part of organisational surroundings to derive proper conclusion
about customer perceptions about the service and hence ensuring to give them a
satisfactory experience.
There is also a high percentage of pressure on CCD with regards to
performance or providing service because of the growing competition. It is
competing with the leading brands in the world who have stepped into Indian
market such as Starbucks, Costa coffee, Di-Bella, Coffee-bean tea leaves and
barista. Apart from these competitors, they also have small competitions from
the local hookah-parlours, bakeries etc. Adding to these threats, the wrong
choice of selected locations to setup new outlets leads the company to incur
losses. Thus, weakening the brand appearance and detoriating the quality of the
brand. Also, keeping in mind the number of outlets CCD have, it is equally
important for this service providers to maintain a disciplined quality and
standard procedure throughout. (Dotson & Patton, 1992)
The product relationship which CCD has is based totally on their business.
For example, they outsource ice-creams and milk products from a trusted
vendor depending upon the region who supplies all the products to different
cafes or lounges of that particular region. Their tie-ups with media gives the
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