Whether it’s a
bunch of friends looking for a cool hangout junction or a couple looking to
spend some quality time together away from the prying eyes of neighborhoods or
just some coffee connoisseurs wanting to get their daily share of hit, CCD is
what comes to anyone’s mind at the very first thought. So I thought why not
study their Service offerings and gather keen insights into what goes inside
into making this Coffee café a major hit among its target audience.
Some of the major
data-points and findings that came across are detailed below.
Location : It’s strategically located at
the Mamallapuram bypass junction on the right hand side of the highway while
going towards Great lakes. People coming from various directions (like those
going from Chennai to Pondicherry and vice-versa, tourists visiting
mamallapuram and its beaches and crowd from nearby colleges and some others
treading the ECR) meet here. Thus it’s difficult to not notice the only CCD in
this area which inturn become the target audience for this outlet.
Store-layout & Design:
v
There is a big enough sitting area just as enter
inside from the main door. There is also a different area ear marked for those
coming in groups. Here it seems they’ve embedded a nice logic by using their
astute observations over a period of time and so they’ve tweaked their store
layout accordingly.
v
What came to light after talking with the store
manager was that around 70% of the customers that arrive come either in pairs
or as couples. Precisely because of this they’ve 13 setups of tables and
cushioned chairs which makes up of approx. 60% of their sitting space. This
ensures that they never run out of appropriate place for their chunk of
customer base.
v
Separate Smokers zone – Many people wish to savor a
smoke with a hot cappuccino and so they’ve a separate area just outside the
store (it’s properly shaded and well lit-up during the night time) to cater to
them.
v
Entertainment – There is a big plush LCD screen where
they screen major sports events like IPL, Cricket series or major Football
leagues. This keeps the sports enthusiasts glued to the tv, inturn increasing
the time spent/customer inside the store and thus it helps them garner extra
business by catering to this segment of the customers. Also to give the entire
ambience a ‘Feel good factor’, a light music being played in the background can
always be heard.
Product Mix and pricing :
Interesting details
came across relating to their pricing strategy of their most selling product
i.e. ‘Cappuccino’
Price of Cappuccino
in Mamallapuram outlet – INR 63
Competitor’s price
in Mayajaal (Barista) – INR 80
Price Differential
Price of Cappuccino
in a Plush Chennai outlet – INR 70
Price of Cappuccino
in a Mumbai outlet – INR 85
Price of Cappuccino
in an Airport outlet – INR 120-125
Service menu and
other products
v
Regular menu – Though it’s a regular menu you would
find anywhere in any CCD outlet, but it’s pretty exhaustive and comprises of
some of the best coffee-based products which CCD takes a pride ranging from the
very favorite Cappuccino, Café Frappe to Devil’s own, Aztec and Ethiopian. They
specifically ensure that any of these products tastes the very same as it may
taste in any outlet say Mumbai or Delhi. They’ve perfected this art over a
period of time and take special pride in this.
v
Peripheral products – There are thirst quenchers being
branded as WTF (what the fun) which come in flavors of Must mango, tangy fusion
and pome cherry fusion and it appears to be new entrant since it was being
displayed on the reception-cum-service desk only for the past 1 month. For
those looking to grab a light complimentary snack, they’ve Spicy nibbles and
banana bites. Some more display products include In-house Coffee brands like
Mysore Royal, Dark Forest, Arabican, Perfect and Charge which are marketed by
Amalgamated holdings Ltd. For the cookies lovers they have them in some amazing
mouth-watering flavors like Choco bliss, Dark Magic and Honey oatmeal.
As did Store
manager opine, the entire idea of Food items and a range of peripheral products
is to increase their channels of revenue. A rough estimate of their possible
revenues from each product offering is given as below.
Customization :
v
They also believe in tweaking their offerings so as to suit
different set of customers. Since they get a lot of foreigners as visitors or
tourists who like Black coffee in particular, they’ve intentionally made the
formula to suit their palattes and have also taken care of the pricing
accordingly.
v
In food items also you would find Veg. puffs for
example made in south Indian style (like Chettinaad etc.) to cater to the local
customers.
Customer Service:
They promote
Self-service and also have interesting display messages to motivate people to
get their orders themselves from the service desk.
USP of Café Coffee Day :
Apparently their USP is to ‘Offer the best quality of Coffee-based
products along with a lively ambience’ so as to help their customers unwind
from their busy schedules so that they can take some time out to savour a cup
of coffee along with their near and dear ones. In one line their famous
marketing tagline sums it all up – ‘A lot can happen over Coffee’
By,
Vishal Verma
(FT13488)
No comments:
Post a Comment