The position of your brand goes far beyond how it looks, it is the values your brand holds, how it speaks to your prospective customers and who are those customers you are aiming to pull in with your brand? Why are they choosing your coffee shop above a well known coffee giant? Focusing on your brands positioning will allow you to maximise your marketing efforts.
A great example of a brand with a purpose is The Body Shop, a company that lives by ‘enrich, not exploit.’ It specialises in all-natural products, not tested on animals, all its ingredients are traceable and sustainable. Additionally, working to protect and regenerate habitats and communities. The Body Shop embody their message, through their shop design, packaging, and advertising, it is a big factor for their loyal customers.
When you start thinking about your brand and its positioning, it is crucial to ask yourself what is important to you? Why are you starting your coffee shop? What are the company’s values? Once you have this figured out, make it the core of every decision.
Coffee shop interior design
You need to be asking yourself “Does the look and feel of the interiors elicit my brand?” With that in mind, say your brand and positioning is a ‘working, tech-savvy friendly environment.’
You will need to have done your research to ensure you are opening in a location that will attract customers to your coffee shop, think freelancers etc, so most probably inner city. Once you are happy on location, it is time to think about what your brand is about, and how you will convey that through your interior design concept.
If you are a coffee shop that is open to those who will be sat on laptops and ipads working, then think through what those people need. If you have a customer that has sat down ready to work for the morning, but then cannot charge their device, they will just pack up and move on, you have said you are a working tech-savvy environment, so make yourself so.
Ideas to factor into your coffee shop design could be anything from lots of charging points, single and dual occupancy tables, to the ability to reserve tables, order coffee from your app or table service. Extremely strong and fast Wi-Fi, how about headphones to rent? Branded pens, post its and pads for those more forgetful clients to buy. Signed quiet areas for those not on calls or meetings?
Will your staff stand by a table to look after a customer’s belongings whilst they attend the restroom?
Your coffee shop needs to be well lit, have a layout that both provides access for all but can maximise your space. The décor should be neutral so as not to add visual noise but inspiring for the clients who use it. You have established you want smaller seating options for single or dual occupancy, but how comfortable are the chairs? If people are not comfortable, they are likely to find working harder, therefore they will leave. As well as chairs, you could offer some varied height tables, something that again, plays a huge part in comfort. Perhaps a window bar and some raised quiet pods as well as standard seating.
You now have a coffee shop that is inviting and functional, you promised an environment that is tech-friendly for those remote workers or ones looking to escape the office for a bit, and you have delivered.
Understanding how purpose and positioning impact the interior design and customer experience.
By designing your interiors in line with your brands’ purpose you are reinforcing your company’s ethos, it is an opportunity to apply your own principles visually and physically via your interiors. Interior branding is a valuable investment, it provides you with a chance to demonstrate what makes your coffee shop unique and more attractive than the other high street giants.
Thinking back to our example of a ‘working, tech savvy environment,’ how your prospective clients interact with your coffee shop should be a whole experience. Your brand’s purpose and how you have positioned yourself builds that experience. The journey from discovering your coffee shop to being a paying customer should be cohesive, from making contact to reserving a table to sitting enjoying their coffee, every step of the way needs to be your brand telling its story.
How convenient and enjoyable they find it to work will be what ensures they become a returning customer and spread the word about your brand and your coffee shop. Having clarity around your brand will be what enables you to shape this experience for your customer. This is what we call connected experience it allows you to shape a rich and meaningful coffee shop interior concept which is perfectly positioned for your key audience.
A true understanding of your brands’ purpose and its positioning will tell prospective customers your own story; they will be able to feel how important it is to you by all the little touches you have thought about. A PwC study has shown 79% of customers rate experience of higher importance than product price or quality and that should tell you all you need to know about providing an experience cohesive to your brands’ value and story.
At Grey Coffee we help brands create clarity and connected experiences.
