Costa Coffee is one of the major multinational coffeehouse companies in the UK (Maamoun, 2020). It comes second largest after Starbuck globally but biggest in the UK. As a fan of coffee, this has prompted me to choose Costa Coffee as an interesting place to visit and observe. I had an opportunity to walk into one of the Costa Coffee branches in Oxford Road on the weekend in the morning (Maamoun, 2020). I chose to visit the shop at this time because it’s when most people often walk in to have their breakfast and tea. This allowed me to identify different types of customers, and I got a more representative analysis.
Walking in and tasting experience in Costa Coffee is one of the best moments lovers of coffee may ever dream of. My experience in a Costa coffee shop was my best experience due to the quality of customer services offered. The experience was great, which would win customers’ loyalty as they thirst to visit the pace once more (Themistocleous, 2018).
As I entered the coffee shop, there was an aroma of roasted coffee wafting heavily through the shop. Maybe it was because of the good combination and balancing of delicate Arabica and Robusta beans. I went direct to the till and got myself a cup of hot cappuccino. When I walked to the counter, I was received politely by a young lady who attended to me. Her face was plastered with a sweet smile. At the shop, there were four other ladies and three men who were also working at the shop. They were all neatly dressed in their brown uniforms. The ladies’ hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail to ensure the standard of hygiene was well kept (Ferreira, 2018). There was an even distribution of jobs amongst themselves. Three of them were making the dinks, two were attending the customers, the other two were busy cleaning the tables when the customers left, and one was the cashier.
There are various ways through which I observed the shop winning their customers through customer experience. Consequently, the customers’ buying behaviors will tend to change with how they are handled or attended to when they walk into Costa Coffee shop (Son et al., 2021). Firstly, the shop has increased customer experience by improving direct communication on the menu and the service in-store. For instance, when a client is walking in the shop, there is an educating coffee knowledge on the walls and on the product line allowing the customers to refine their coffee detail. Consequently, this captures the customers’ attention as the customers wait in the queue or taste the drink in-store.’
Another factor that Costa coffee shops I observed are keen on is speed. It is vital to understand that speed is essential for any organization to perform its objective because it will define how fast the services are rendered to the customers (Lubis et al., 2020). For instance, Costa has employees assigned their responsibilities evenly such that there is no delay. Customers are attended timely and their time saved. The major objective of working on speed is to reduce the cost of operations via the appropriate allocation of resources to have services delivered sooner. In connection to speed, Costa operates on a measured time, that is, the time it takes for people to dine with in-store tasks, from Cappuccino brewing to making sandwich grills clean. Through such activity times, the shop can develop labor budgets helping in setting sales targets and analyzing variance across the people (Lubis et al., 2020). The workers are fast at helping take clients’ orders and delivering them to their tables. If the place is not that busy, such workers must serve in the kitchen and make sure that the area is clean.
I notice there are some features that make most of the customers visit the shop. The features also play a big part in the shop’s progress in its coffee segment (Ferreira, 2018). Firstly, there is the atmosphere portrayed by going into Costa. Some customers visited due to the surroundings to hang out and enjoy the coffee. The workers are well trained about Costa corporation and the coffee market. This training is what has helped them offer high-quality and professional services to their clients (Seminario & Mendoza, 2018). The shop has hired people who enjoy the type of surrounding and are in love with what they do. You could see employees happy and enjoying their work.
Another experience was enjoying the Free-Wifi service (Austin & Sharr, 2021). This allowed some of the professionals to work as they enjoyed their coffee. This extra service helped the customers to access the internet without using their own credit comfortably. Costa Coffee shop is all concerned with providing customers with a good experience and serving the customers with high-quality coffee. The coffee shop has very attractive décor, and good music is played (Branco & Kobakova, 2018). This makes it more attractive to vast customers. The interior features comprise new lighting with a ‘simplified palette’ and finishes fitted with highlights of polished brass.
Therefore, in Costa, efficiency and good customers experience must go hand in hand. Be it grabbing and going as a part of the morning commute; it is essential getting a great coffee fast so that the clients get on with enjoying the rest of their experience (Chen & Demirci, 2019). With coffee, the shop believes in having customers at the heart of everything is done. With this, every cup of coffee is handcrafted, meaning that it is possible to tailor each drink to the exact needs the customers wish, be it extra flavor or trying a new roast. There is a need to understand that the UK is a coffee-loving place and people have a great passion for a coffee that tastes great (Mann, 2018). Additionally, customers always look for new things and are excited to try their usual coffee.
References
Austin, S., & Sharr, A. (2021). The University of Nonstop Society: Campus Planning, Lounge Space, and Incessant Productivity. Architecture and Culture, 9(1), 69-97.
Branco, M., & Kobakova, D. (2018). Turning a commodity into an experience: the “sweetest spot” in the coffee shop. Innovative Marketing, 14(4), 46.
Chen, C. W., & Demirci, S. (2019). Factors affecting mobile shoppers’ continuation intention of coffee shop online store: A perspective on consumer tolerance. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 10(2), 203-238.
Ferreira, J. (2018). Fostering sustainable behavior in retail: Looking beyond the coffee cup. Social Business, 8(1), 21-28.
Lubis, S. N., Fauzia, L., & Utami, D. (2020, February). CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) and IPA (Importance Performance Analysis) of Mandheling Coffee in Medan. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 454, No. 1, p. 012007). IOP Publishing.
Mann, A. (2018). Ordering tasting in a restaurant: experiencing, socializing, and processing food. The Senses and Society, 13(2), 135-146.
Maamoun, A. (2020). Coca-Cola Brews a Hot Acquisition: Costa Coffee. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.
Miles, I., Lee, M. F., & Sawatwarakul, K. (2018). Wake up and smell the coffee: Innovation in the coffee shop experience. In Services, Experiences, and Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Son, J. H., Kim, J. H., & Kim, G. J. (2021). Does employee satisfaction influence customer satisfaction? Assessing coffee shops through the service profit chain model. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94, 102866.
Themistocleous, C. (2018). Loyalty Cards And Personal Information.
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