Bangkok--11 Aug--spark
Going to cafe or coffee shop has become today's new trend. A good coffee shop is hard to find and it is even harder to please every coffee lover. A survey conducted by International Service Check will help cafe hoppers find out where are the best places to take a break.
The average score across all coffee shops in Bangkok was not impressive, especially when considering that almost half of the coffee shops had only a few customers inside. It is surprising that many customers evaluated that most coffee shops fail to deliver despite their good shop design. Moreover, their positive feeling dampened when they entered the coffee shop as the survey reveals that only ten percent of customers are satisfied with the service inside.
Overall, the area that most coffee shops in Bangkok are rated highly was 'Speed and accuracy'. Consumers were satisfied with their drinks which were served within average of 5.5 minutes in a perfect type and size. In contrast, the worst evaluated part of all visits is 'Loyalty building'. It looks like many brands in Thailand have the biggest issues keeping loyal customers. Less than one third of the coffee shops tested have a loyalty program that is actively promoted. Within the number of shops that run loyalty programs, only one out of five encourages actively customers to use promotion. Unfortunately, the farewell also was not the coffee shops strength. While customers are expecting, more than 75% of them were not said good bye in an appropriate manner and some of them were not said good bye at all.
The survey studies five main categories which are 1) Appearance and first impression 2) Interaction 3) Speed and accuracy 4) Product presentation and quality 5) Brand loyalty. The coffee shops evaluated were visited more by females than males with the average ratio of 3:1. The most common age group was between 25 and 35 years old.
The coffee shops evaluated were Black Canyon Coffee, Blue Cup Coffee, Chao Doi Coffee, Cafe Amazon, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Coffee World, Starbucks, Tom & Tom's, The Coffee Club, True Coffee and 94 Coffee. The best rated was The Coffee Club which ranked highest amongst all tested. The following two were 94 Coffee and Coffee World consecutively.
The survey unveils that one third of the customers believe coffee shops are not the place to relax. They are unimpressed with the coffee shops' facilities, cleanliness and atmosphere, revealing that coffee shops do not provide what they need like comfy sofas, newspapers or Wi-Fi. Moreover, almost half of the respondents show disappointment that more coffee shops in Bangkok do not offer Wi-Fi in contrast to the growing connectivity demand.
The respondents add that most Bangkok coffee shops are still not up to par when it comes to interaction with the customers. Every one out of five customers said that they were not greeted properly, 50 percent of the clients were not advised on the coffee selection or specialties and 90 percent will receive the recommendations upon request. This shows that coffee shop staff are not as proactive as they are supposed to be.
Presentation and product quality are ranked as positive in all criteria when asked. Every coffee shop did a very good job astonishing customers with the presentation of coffee when they are served as well as the quality and temperature of coffee.
The results of the survey seem to indicate that coffee shops are left with a huge margin to improve. The biggest concern found was the employees' behavior such as passive attitude, no recommendation, no farewell and no loyalty building. Half of the respondents said that they would have enjoyed their visit better if the staff give a farewell when they left the coffee shop.