High street coffee shops are making up a lot of the available space on the high street where the likes of BHS, Woolworths and Our Price once stood. Of course, the news bulletins are bringing news of more and more companies under threat, and surely there’s only so many Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero outlets that the British public need, aren’t there?
So, how often do you visit a coffee shop? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Statistics suggest we’re all heading out more, taking a more European style cafe culture to our hearts, watching the world go by over a cappuccino, latte or espresso.
It’s a remarkable story, with the average coffee shop making an 83% margin on the average drink sold, which is why you’ll often see cheap pastries and cakes on offer to entice you to spend that little bit more. Loyalty cards (or more accurately apps) are also used to bring you in more frequently, helping you to find your nearest store and tempt you with a free drink every so often just by paying by card (which convenient allows them to track your buying behaviour more closely).
This tracking of buying habits and subsequent targeted marketing is nothing new, it’s something that supermarkets have been doing for decades with their loyalty cards.
So, the rise and rise of the coffee shop seems unstoppable, but is it? The next big change isn’t going to come from the high street itself though, it’s going to come from your kitchen. More on that in the next post though, when we talk about our favourite topic – bean to cup coffee machines.
Will these high tech home coffee machines be enough to dent the growth of the huge coffee chains? As Coca Cola invested a fortune buying the Costa Coffee brand, they obviously don’t think so, but is it about continual growth or protecting their spot as the biggest and best known drinks company. It’s clearly no longer just about cold drinks, with the move into hot beverages. Whether its a long term success, time will tell!