Nespresso: when coffee is not just “coffee”…

Each morning after my breakfast I am pleased because I know the next thing I am going to do is have a small cup of the best nectar in the world… Nespresso — what else ?

For those who drink huge cups of « coffee » (more like a coffee-soup to me) it might sound odd how one can be so delighted by two drops and a half of coffee.Well… you need to experience it, but not anyhow because Nespresso is not just coffee, it is way more.

Nespresso’s Instagram page reflects perfecltly the refinement the brand created around coffee.Every picture emphasizes the fact the nespresso coffee is an elegant and sophisticated product by associating it with other elegant products such as macaroons or fancy-good-looking cakes.

In my opinion the brand’s Instagram and Facebook pages are very well designed since they follow on from the atmosphere conveyed in the Nespresso boutiques where everything is neat and stylish.In fact, the brand uses the same elegant dark brown color on its website, facebook, instagram or in its boutiques.The customer perceives therefore the consistency of the brand and doesn’t feel disoriented either when he shops online or in a Nespresso boutique.

What surprised me the most when I started analyzing Nespresso’s social media strategy is that they have so many followers ; around 4,5 million on Facebook and 110 000 on Instagram which is really good for « just » coffee.

I had a look at their competition, even though no other coffee brand chose the luxury orientation, and I realized that Lavazza or Senseo have barely a Facebook and Instagram pages and a poor number of followers.This means that the strenght of Nespresso is the way they manage to communicate through digital media and how they are able to arouse customer’s desire.And not only Nespresso is able to create desire, they are also very good at retaining customers by constantly launching limited editions of coffee.

This constant product renewing implies that they have to communicate with their customers and they do it very well on Facebook or Instagram by posting recipes with their different coffee cru.On their Instagram page one can even see very attractive pictures of gourmet dishes like lobster with Dulsao du Brasil foam (a nespresso cru of coffee) which can sound strange right ? Associating seafood with coffee… Yet it looks delicious, and outclasses coffee from an every-day life product to a very sophisticated and complex product.

Nespresso capsules are not just pods , their design suggests that they should be seen more like jewelry items packaged in black minimalist cases.Their different colors makes them unique but also make us think that they are trendy objects suggestig a luxurious lifestyle.

I must confess that I admire Nespresso (but you probably figured that by now), each time I go in one of their boutique or online to buy my beloved coffee I think : « They know how to reach and keep their customer », and that might be the reason why they are so successful.

This post was created as part of the Global Luxury Management program at the NCState Pool school of management. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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