Priyanka Gupta

1. Starbucks2. Tim Hortons3. McDonalds4. Second Cup5. Timothys6. Aroma Espresso Bar

I love coffee and enjoy my time at coffee shops!

I figured out that I am quite an observant person – I do actually pay attention to my surroundings and it does affect me a lot – but I tend to do all this subconsciously

I love coffee shops especially when I was a student, I could get a lot of work done in the shops

I wanted to compare the coffee shops on the different ways they try to attract customers – pls see following slides

Mc Donalds – free coffee for a week – very aggressive to get into the market – has offered free coffee plenty of times in the past as well

Tim Hortons - $1 specality coffee – cheaper price to encourage customers to drink more

Starbucks – cheaper drink in the afternoon if you present your morning drink receipt

Second Cup – same as Starbucks for a while, and now has $2 lattes

Timothys –none such aggressive promotions

Tim Hortons – only now has started airing TV commericals – has never bothered before !

Mc Donalds – free coffee advertisement on billboards

Second Cup – a blackboard outside the store shows the current promotions and some quotes related to today’s weather – great way to catch customer’s attention

Starbucks – same blackboard strategy of Starbucks; along has a rewards program card

Timothy’s – newspaper advertisements and outside the shop advertisements

Starbucks – comfy couches, free wifi now, always crowded with students or other customers doing work or chatting – difficult to find a seat and a plug point for your laptop

McDonalds – no comfy couches, free wifi, but always crowded with customers who come in for food – not a ‘typical’ coffee-shop atmosphere

Timothy’s – good seats and good space – but hardly any students hang out at Timothy’s – more for customers going to work

Second Cup – good seats, free wifi, depends on the shop size if you get a seat or not

If you sit at the shop for a long time completing an assignment or work, you are bound to get hungry.

The other products that the coffee shop offers also influences my choice of which I shop I want to go to. The best things that I like are :

Second Cup – really good cheesecakes – especially when I want to treat myself

Tim Hortons – good for cheap lunchesTimothy’s – good for tea McDonalds – good for cheap lunches and fries !Starbucks – good healthy options for lunches

The other reason why a few people go to these coffee shops is that they can get a quick coffee while in the car and just drive off.McDonalds and Tim Hortons have great drive

ins where the employees work fast to get the order done

Second Cup, Timothy’s and Starbucks – don’t have this drive in model – they are missing out on the huge volume of customers that are attracted to drive ins – however maybe these shops want to target the smaller elite group of customers