Product Design: How would you design a better Starbucks?

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

This is a classic non tech product design question, however we can use the same framework on this question that we use in tech products design.

Which market?

The reason behind asking this question is that Starbucks, although an international brand, looks at the business based on geographies. A business strategy implemented in the US may be doing great for the local market, but it may not work in other parts of the world. Let’s say we want to look at the Indian market.

What is “better”?

The first thing in this question would be to define better. Ask the interviewer what he/she means by better and set the goal for the question. If you have to set the goal for the question, present options to the interviewer. In this case, it can be something like:

increase traffic/footfall
increase revenue
increase customer satisfaction

Let’s say we want to increase customer satisfaction.

We have to come up with tangible way to measure customer satisfaction. We have to come up with a baseline and show how we can improve on that. Generally customer satisfaction can be measured through feedback from the customers. It can be a simple 3 or 5 point scale where the customer can review their experience at the store. Gather enough data to make a strong case around where we are right now and where we want to be. Let’s say we are at 7 and want to reach 8.

Rephrase the question

Now the question is: Increase the customer satisfaction score of Starbucks from 7 to 8 for the Indian Market.

Who are the Customers?

1. Take away customers: These are users who come to the store, place order, take it and leave the store. They are not spending a lot of time in the store.
2. Online orders: These are users who order beverages and food online at Starbucks.
3. Order in: These are users who come to the store and drink their beverages and eat their food inside the store. They spend the most time inside the store.

For this question, we will target the users who order in at Starbucks as they spend the most time inside the store. Let’s look at what this user segment is comprised of:

1. working professionals
2. students
3. couples
4. Others

These are the major categories of user that I could think of. Let’s look at some of the needs for these set of users.

Customer needs

1. Users may want to place order from the table
2. Working professionals and students may want to sit and work
3. Working professionals and students may want to charge their phones
4. Working professionals and students May want to charge their laptops
5. Students may want to sit and study
6. Students may may want to do a group meeting
7. May want to sit and talk
8. May want to just have a coffee and eat something

Solutions

1. Each table top can be fitted with a tab through which the customer can place their order and pay online. The customer can then collect the order from the counter (as Starbucks is self service)
2. Users should be able to sit and work or study. For this requirement, there can be a separate section in the Starbucks that is partitioned from the rest of the outlet so that users can sit in peace.
3. Users should be able to charge their laptops. Each table should be fitted with a charging point for laptop.
4. Users should be able to charge their phones. There can be sockets for mobile phone charging or there can be charging pins for most popular phones(one for iphone and one for android) on the table.

Prioritization

For each of the solution, I will evaluate against a customer satisfaction.

1. Place order from table — high
2. Separate section for users to sit — medium
3. Laptop charging — high
4. Mobile charging socket — low (people do not carry their charges with them)
5. Mobile charging pins — high

So, I would implement the ones with high impact.

Success Metrics

I would implement these in some of the Starbucks outlet in cities where Starbucks has good traffic and the customer satisfaction score is average. I would then check the customer satisfaction score after about a month to validate if my solutions worked or not.

I would float a customer satisfaction survey or an NPS survey to verify the results.

How else do you think this question could’ve been approached? What could’ve been better? Let me know.