Abstract

This research study explores customers’ underlying standards of business strategy within the context of coffee shops. It investigates leveraging customer feedback to improve the products, services, and overall customer experience. Specifically, the paper identified the occurrence of prominent themes and patterns from consumers’ outlooks and developed a strategical framework reflecting contemporary business strategies. The study employed a qualitative research design, occupying a content analysis approach. The research is centred on the local coffee shop and was selected based on its significant upswing in sales performance. The corpora of the study were creatively collected from customers who made purchases at the selected coffee shop, while the researchers used Miles and Huberman’s (2013) steps in the analysis. The results revealed comments and suggestions as the two main themes reflected in the consumers’ outlook, while patterns were classified in terms of price sensitivity, taste preferences, product quality, ambiance and cleanliness, space and overcrowding, and taste balance. This study provided invaluable recommendations not alone for coffee shop owners, managers, and consumers but also for students, educators, and stakeholders in the business field. These insights offered actionable strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Furthermore, the study’s implications extend beyond the coffee shop context, contributing to the broader understanding of consumer behaviour, and effective marketing strategies.

Keywords: consumer outlook, business strategy, feedback, comment, and suggestion

 

References

Aggarwal, A., Rehm, C.D., Monsivais, P. & Drewnowskiet, A. (2016) Importance of taste, nutrition, cost and convenience in relation to diet quality: Evidence of nutrition resilience among US adults using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2010. Preventive Medicine. 90, 184-192. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.06.030

Bernard, M. (2012). Content analysis. Columbia University Mailman School of Public     Health

Boyles, M. (2022). What is business strategy & why is it important? Harvard Business School Online. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-business-strategy

Duman, F. (2020).  Effects of coffee shops’ food quality, service quality and ambience quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty in Batman, Turkey. International Journal of Innovative Approaches in Social Sciences, 4(3), 54-68.  https://doi.org/10.29329/ijiasos.2020.278.1

Choi, J. (2017). The iceberg theory of user feedback. Customer.io. https://customer.io/blog/iceberg-theory-user-feedback/

De, K. (2022, September 05). Why listening to customer is important (and how to do it) Quick Scream. https://www.quickscream.com/listening-to-customers/

Greene, R. (2020). Strategic Talent Management. Creating the Right Workforce. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367854683

Hutchinson, R.  (2012). Importance of ambience. White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group. https://www.whitehutchinson.com/news/lenews/2014/march/article108.shtml

Ilakya, Sandhya, & Vijayalakshmi (2020). A study on influence of store ambience on consumers purchase behaviour. International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology. 6(4), 680-686

Ismoyowati, D. (2021). Innovation of coffee shop during pandemic COVID19: Bottled coffee drinks in demand. E3S Web of Conferences.   https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202131602015

Keppler, Y. (2012). Why coffee always tastes better at a coffee shop. Well+Good LLC. https://www.wellandgood.com/coffee-shop-coffee-tastes-better/

Kimelberg, S. & Williams, E. (2013). Evaluating the importance of business location factors: the influence of facility type. Growth and Change, 44(1), 92-117. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12003

Lee, W. S. & Moon, J. (2018). Attributes of the coffee shop business related to      customer satisfaction. Journal of Foodservice Business Research. 21:6, 628-641 https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2018.1524227

Magloff, L. (2020) Cafe pricing strategy. Hearst Communications, Inc. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cafe-pricing-strategy-2722.html

Medallia (2020). What is customer feedback? Medallia Inc. https://www.medallia.com/blog/what-is-customer-feedback-definition-examples/

Miles, M. & Huberman, M. (2013). Qualitative Data Analysis. SAGE

Nasr, L., Burton, J., Gruber, T. & Kitshoff, J. (2014). Exploring the impact of customer feedback on the well-being of service entities: A TSR perspective. Journal of Service Management, 25(4), 531-555. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-01-2014-0022

Nadathur, S. & Carolan, M. (2017). Flavors, taste preferences, and the consumer: Taste modulation and influencing change in dietary patterns for a sustainable earth. Sustainable Protein Sources. 377-389. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802778-3.00023-8

Needle, F. (2022). The benefits of customer feedback. Hubspot, Inc.https://blog.hubspot.com/service/benefits-of-customer-feedback

Perzynska, K. (2023, June 12). Why is customer feedback important the complete guide. https://survicate.com/customer-feedback/why-customer-feedback-is-important/

Schaefer, M. (2021). Coffee shops’ post-coronavirus evolution. Euromonitor International.

Sambo, E. et al. (2022). Impact of product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Proceedings of the 15th Annual International Conference.

Sherman, F. (2019, March 07). Why is the location of a business important?  Small business – Chron.com https://smallbusiness.chron.com/location-business-important-43239.html

Steffens, G. (2021) SWOT analysis for strategic decision making https://www.gaebler.com/SWOT-Analysis-for-Strategic-Decision-Making.htm

Zhao, H., Yao X., Liu, Z. & Yang, Q. (2021). Impact of pricing and product information on consumer buying behavior with customer satisfaction in a mediating role. Front. Psychol. 12:720151. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720151