Barista vs Caffe Coffe Day Essay

MILAN – The following article is a summary extract from the dissertation projects of the MBA and BBA students of Skyline College. Skyline, situated in Delhi and Gurgaon (NCR) is a premier institute providing management education specialising in MBA and BBA degrees and specialist courses for travel and tourism as well as mass communication. For further information on the article content or on the institute please clickhttp://www.skylinecollege.com/ to visit the official college website. This dissertation was completed by Saroj Shahbaz Naiyar (2007 – 2009) on the topic Barista Vs Cafà © Coffee Day a Comparative Study. Summary The objective of the thesis is â€Å"To compare and study Barista & Cafà © Coffee Day, identify areas of excellence and areas needing improvement; and provide suggestions for such improvement†. The aim of this Thesis is to successfully compare two prominent service sector companies on a common platform, analyze their working and performance, and highlight what they are doing well, while providing suggestions and recommendations for improvement. Barista and Cafà © Coffee Day were chosen because of their identical pattern of functioning and growth. They are the only two major players in the national coffee cafà © industry, and their customers consider both as interchangeable brands. This is why it is important to study how these brands differentiate themselves from each other, and attempt to improve brand loyalty amongst their customers. For the purpose of this study, I prepared a questionnaire, to find out the relevant primary data pertaining to the functioning and working of both Barista and Cafà © Coffee Day. The data was collected based on information provided by: 1. The management of the organization. 2. Customers visiting Barista and Cafà © Coffee Day outlets. Besides the primary data collected with the help of the questionnaire, I have also collected the relevant secondary data from various sources like magazines, books and Internet and newspapers. Based on the relevant primary and secondary data, a comparative analysis has been done so as to find out the areas of excellence and areas of improvement of both organizations. The areas of excellence and improvement have been identified based on factual information, in light of which recommendations and suggestions have been provided for the overall improvement of the organizations in the future. This Thesis is conducted in Gurgaon, India; so the information is relative to this city. The main objectives could be: 1. To understand market performance of Barista & Cafà © Coffee Day. 2. To do a SWOT analysis. 3. To understand consumer perception. 4. To analyze there target consumer& marketing mix(7P’s). Conclusion: Areas of Excellence Both cafà ©s have certain areas where they have been consistently performing well. These are essentially the strengths of the brand, and Barista & Cafà © Coffee Day need to capitalize on these strengths to increase their market share and brand loyalty. The main areas of excellence, based on the Case Studies & Market Survey, have been identified as follows: Barista 1. Strong Brand Image: Barista has a strong and clear brand image. Their customers can easily identify and relate to the Barista brand. This helps increase and maintain brand loyalty. 2. Excellent Human Resource: According to the survey, Barista received an excellent rating for the service and behavior of their staff. This is a huge advantage, especially in a service organization. Barista must strive to keep this advantage. 3. Ambience & Dà ©cor: Another significant area of excellence is the kind of ambience and dà ©cor Barista cafà ©s have. Respondents to the survey, including whose who chose Cafà © Coffee Day as their choice of cafà © gave Barista a near perfect rating for their Ambience & Dà ©cor. 4. Strong base for expansion & growth: Barista have worked hard on heir brand image and human resources, and have a strong base for future expansion and growth- whether nationally or internationally. Cafà © Coffee Day 1. Highly rated Taste & Quality of products: Cafà © Coffee Day got a high rating in the market survey, for the Taste & Quality of their products. If they work on this aspect, there is huge potential for them to attract customers, just based on the taste and quality of products. This is also helped by the fact that they grow their own coffee beans, and this provides an important base for future expansion and growth. Cafà © Coffee Day even won the â€Å"Barista Coffee- Making Championship† for the Best Coffee. 2. Value for money proposition: Cafà © Coffee Day is projected as an â€Å"affordable† brand. This strategy has worked extremely well so far, and Cafà © Coffee Day got a high rating, both for their prices and for their value for money, in the market survey. 3. Strong youth orientation: The Cafà © Coffee Day brand is, and always has been, extremely youth- oriented. In a country where over 40% of the population is under the age of 20, there is huge potential for Cafà © Coffee Day to become one of the country’s largest youth brands. The untapped market share and potential for growth is enormous. Areas Needing Improvement Both Barista and Cafà © Coffee Day have under performed or not lived up to potential in certain areas. The areas are weaknesses, which need to be improved upon, as that both can eliminate any disadvantage that may have, and improve customer satisfaction. The mail areas needing improvement, based on the Case Studies & Market Survey, have been identified as follows: Barista 1. Average taste & quality of products: According to the market survey, other than their Dessert, Barista got only an average rating for the taste & quality of their products. Considering their strong brand image of being the coffee- lover’s traditional cafà ©, they have not performed up to expectations in this area. 2. Perceived as an expensive brand: Customer perceptions of Barista’s prices and value for money are quite negative. Even though the prices of Barista and Cafà © Coffee Day are almost identical, Barista is still perceived as the more expensive brand. 3. Inconvenient delivery process: On a smaller note, Barista’s self- service delivery process received almost unanimous complaints from respondents of the market survey. They found it inconvenient to go back to the counter just to receive their order. Cafà © Coffee Day 1. Weak brand image: The Cafà © Coffee Day brand, although clearly a youth- oriented brand, lacks the power and strength expected to maintain brand loyalty. The brand doesn’t project a clear image to customers about what Cafà © Coffee Day is all about. This could prove as a deterrent during future national and international expansion. 2. Inefficient human resources: According to the market survey, Cafà © Coffee Day’s staff received only an average rating for their behavior and service. Cafà © Coffee Day needs to work hard at this aspect, especially considering they are a service sector organization that is looking at large expansion. 3. Ambience & Dà ©cor: The Ambience & Dà ©cor of Cafà © Coffee Day outlets received a below- average rating from respondents of the market survey. A lot of respondents did not like the fact that Cafà © Coffee Day outlets and literature served as prime space for a lot of advertising and promotions. They felt as if the cafà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s had been hijacked just for advertising. Recommendation & Suggestions Barista †¢ Barista has an extremely strong brand image, but they need to work hard on improving their customer perception of being and expensive brand. Barista and Cafà © Coffee Day have almost identical pricing, but Barista is still perceived as the more expensive brand. †¢ That’s why my first recommendation for Barista is, to carry out a promotion campaign to ensure that their target market is well aware of their current low prices. This would help change customer perception and turn Barista into an affordable brand. †¢ Another backlash of having such a strong traditional cafà © brand image is that customers have very high expectations of the taste & quality of products. Barista needs to work hard at this aspect, especially for coffee and eatables products. †¢ My second recommendation is for Barista to look at its coffee beans suppliers and coffee brewing process to ensure that it is the best it can be. †¢ This is especially important considering the international expansion Barista is undertaking. Barista should also look at the Taj, their national suppliers for eatables and desserts, and either improve the taste & quality of eatable, or look at another supplier- because as of now, they are not living up to expectations, and losing customers to Cafà © Coffee Day. †¢ On a smaller note: the Barista delivery process should change, so that a cafà © attendant delivers the coffee to the table. This may seem insignificant, but it can go a long way in improving customer satisfaction. Cafà © Coffee Day †¢ Cafà © Coffee Day has done extremely well so far to project itself as an affordable youth- oriented brand. But there are still certain areas where their brand needs to be much stronger. †¢ With regard to the physical evidence associated with the brand, Cafà © Coffee Day needs to do a lot of work if they hope to catch up with Barista. My first recommendation for Cafà © Coffee Day is to clean up the dà ©cor at every outlet, wherever unnecessary advertising is taking place. †¢ Although it might be an important source of revenue, long-term customer perception of the brand isn’t very positive. †¢ Cafà © Coffee Day would do better to provide promotional space for its partners with the use of clever collaborations, and not printed advertisements and posters everywhere. †¢ My second recommendation is that Cafà © Coffee Day looks at its current recruitment, selection and most importantly, its current training policies. †¢ Customers are not happy with the behavior and service of the staff, and Cafà © Coffee Day is lagging far behind Barista is this aspect. *The above article was extracted from dissertations in Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Strategy, Information Systems by the students from Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR). Introduction to ccd The First Cafà © Coffee Day logo a bright red cube with a green stroke above ‘e’ in ‘Cafà © Coffee Day’. The word ‘Cafà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ was made to appear dominant to indicate Cafà © Coffee Day’s introduction of ‘Cafà © culture’ in India. The font used for ‘Cafà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ is called SLURRY – the font looks as though the letters have congealed or coagulated out of liquid. The current logo includes a dialogue box which highlights the connection between ‘coffee’ and ‘conversations.’ This logo also reflects their current tag line, â€Å"A lot can happen over coffee.† The logo of CCD has been changed recently, this has been done in line with the increased competition and also for the proper conveying of the message that Cafà © Coffee Day desires to tell to its customer. The famous Cafà © Coffee Day squared logo has got a fresh new avatar – a ‘Dialogue Box’ – with the words Cafà © Coffee Day written in a distinct, specially created font. The new trendy ‘dialogue’ logo symbolizes the essence of what a Cafà © Coffee Day cafà © is all really all about – a perfect place to ‘relax and dialogue.’ And as we all know, a lot does happen over coffee! Vertical integration The company is known for being vertically integrated to cut costs: from owning the plantations,[2] growing the coffee,[2] making the coffee machines[3] to making the furniture for the outlets.[2] The machines cost them [pic]1.2 lakh each, which they say is half the cost of an imported coffee machine.[3] The maintenance cost of CCD’s machines is also less than foreign machines.[3] Outlets The first CCD outlet was set up on July 11, 1996, at Brigade Road, Bangalore, Karnataka.[4] Following this, CCD crossed over 1000 cafà ©s throughout the nation by 2011. They currently have (as of August 2012) 1319 outlets spread across 28 states of India.[5] The number increases almost every week. A ‘meter’ on their official website (Cafecoffeeday.com) keeps continuous track of the number.