The coffee shop effect

Having worked most of College through to University in coffee shops, the sight of a student or businessman/woman with their laptop to one side and Flat white to the other wasn’t unfamiliar. So recently stumbling upon the Linkedin trending topic ‘coffee shop effect’ it all starts to make sense.

Completing a day’s work surrounded by the smell of freshly baked goods and endless amounts of caffeine sounds bliss! Coffee grinding, a child whining and cutlery clashing may not sound like the most peaceful environment to be working in. However recent studies on brain activity have suggested that background noise could be boosting your performance *Packs Laptop and heads for nearest coffee shop*.

With people moving to cities to improve their quality of life and prospects. There’s been a lot of research surrounding the effect on coffee shops in society. They’re considered third places, a social surrounding separate from the two usual social environments of home and workplace. People flock to these surroundings to make social connections. This links to the coffee shop effect as when in the city centre you’re never more than 100 feet away from a coffee house.

When working from home it can feel as though you can’t switch off once 5 o’clock comes. More people are beginning to take their work on the move, to still have the home as their relaxation space separate to work. When it comes to completing a few study hours, some necessities come along with it to make you feel right at home- out of home! While also keeping you connected to the world.

Gone are the days of reading and searching a through 1000’s of pages of books just to find one quote to match your argument. With information readily available at the click of a mouse all you need is the internet. Offering customers access to free WiFi, means allowing them to carry on with their work at ease.

It’s not just the internet access that consumers expect, they need it to be fast and reliable. Integrating a fully managed WiFi system throughout your store ensuring there are no black spots. This means customers can utilise the internet without the fear of clicking ‘submit’ and the internet dropping off. What’s worse than a buffering icon appearing on your screen just as you’re about to save?!

Having WiFi means that customers are likely to spend longer in-store. Being more inclined to spend that extra bit of cash. With 50% of consumers feeling comfortable making larger purchases instore if WiFi access is available. Coffee shops need to be taking advantage of this with their marketing.

Instead of seeing someone who stays all day as just another customer they should be investing in them. Offering loyalty schemes and personalised discounts advertised through email when they opt-in on the WiFi login. This will make customers more likely to purchase that tempting muffin with their drink or get that 3rd coffee as by their 5th they get one free!

At Celestra we work alongside our partners to make sure the solution meets our client’s needs. Read all about what we did for guest and corporate WiFi throughout Prezzo stores.

Get in touch today to see how Celestra can transform your customer experience, email sales@celestra.co.uk or call 01908 889 500