Discovery Lab
Homework 2
Coffee Culture
Introduction
Recall in the previous exercise you were presented with a number of subjective problems from the perspective of one person (Huihui). Sometimes, these are the spark that will lead you to real insights and needs, but oftentimes, it is only one clue to a larger issue that requires much more investigation and experimentation to validate and solve. In addition, you should always be cognizant of the risk of subjective biases, both your own, and those of others. Because of this, it’s important to research with an open mind, but also to take a methodical approach to your research.
Think about what you wrote to her. You likely had a number of questions you would have liked to ask (maybe you did ask them?). In this brief, we’re going to detail those questions and answers, in order to give you a better understanding of the core problem (at least as it’s seen by someone with more insight into the business), then you’ll hit the streets with your partner for some rapid research.
Brief:
Below is the email response you received from Huihui detailing her situation. Read this email, plan your research trip, and return to author a small (no more than 3 slide presentation on trends you noticed at the coffee shop you visited — further instructions are below).
Hi!
Thanks for the thoughtful email. It was great to meet you too. It occurs to me that when I was mentioning a few of our challenges to you, I wasn’t exactly clear. If you’re seriously interested in helping, let’s consider you a temporary member of the team.
The service operations of our stores are a big problem, and to make matters more challenging, our industry is undergoing digital transformations and Chinese consumers are changing their behaviors daily.
Our executive team just got back from a trip to Shanghai. Remember the startup coffee brand I mentioned? The one where you need to order from an app and can’t even order in person? Well, our executives are enamored with how digital China has become and now want to get rid of our cashiers and replace them with an app, they’re convinced that the future of coffee in China is digital.
I don’t think our customers aren’t the type to want to get their coffee quickly and run, nor, I think, are they the kind of people that would want to order on an app.
I took a look at your LinkedIn profile, it looks like you and a partner have a small consumer research consultancy, that’s awesome. Perhaps you’d like to help me understand a bit more about our consumer trends and needs? At the very least, I think it will help me give some more concrete information to the executive and product development teams so that they can better tailor whatever it is they have in mind to better fit our market.
So, if you’re up to the task, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Looking forward to your report!
Huihui
Instructions:
Read the response from Huihui. Over the next few days plan on doing the following:
- You want to understand a bit more about Chinese consumers. Read this report from Accenture.
- You’re not 100% sold on the idea of getting rid of baristas and forcing people to use an application or kiosk to order, but you don’t want to just give your opinion on the matter. You’d like to understand Chinese consumers and what digitization means to them. With your partner, come up with a plan to do some ethnographic research.
- Using Patti’s presentation as a guide, We would like you to find one or more people and have them make one or more collages or drawings titled “What Does Digital Mean to Me” What thoughts and feelings surround the term ‘Digital’ what does represent and symbolize to them?
- You should go out and explore similar locations where consumers can have the digital experiences that Huihui is mentioning (hint: we saw one in the first class, but it’s not the only one)
- In your team, author a short presentation, show your collage(s) and talk about the insights you uncovered.
You will have 2 minutes to give your presentation, so it’s advisable to spend one minute on your collage and one minute on your insights.
Post this presentation to the #lightning Slack channel prior to the next class session and come prepared to present this presentation in the next class.
