Blue Team

Intelligentsia Coffee Web Analysis

1. What is the value proposition of the site? What type of e-commerce site?

Intelligentsia Coffee was founded in 1995, by two San Francisco natives who moved to Chicago to open a small in-store coffee roaster-retailer on the north side of the city. They started small with simple hopes of bringing great, fresh-roasted coffee to the neighborhood. Since then Intelligentsia has evolved considerably and are now a B2B and B2C company. Intelligentsia’s value proposition is that their coffees are unlike any others, and they are exclusive to Intelligentsia. The buying staff at Intelligentsia cumulatively spends over 365 days each year to source coffee; developing them with individual growers. Intelligentsia believes that by illuminating what is possible with coffee, they can forever change how to world thinks about coffee.

2. Who are their primary competitors? What is their revenue model?

Intelligentsia Coffee’s revenue focuses primarily on retail sales (products and services). Their website provides customers and prospective customers with an online catalogue of their products and provides users with a wealth of content about the company, products, services, etc. Additionally, they offer wholesale services. Intelligentsia’s main competitors are:

3. How does the website integrate with other channels?

Intelligentsia Coffee uses a multi-channel integration approach to market and connect with customers. They maintain an email contact database which they use to communicate with their customers and also interact with customers via their iPhone App. Additionally, they maintain a corporate Facebook page and each location has its own Facebook page and Twitter handle. Lastly, their website has a “Contact Us” form which they encourage customers to use to get in touch with the company with any questions or comments.

4. Who are the intended customers for the website?

Intended customers of the Intelligentsia website vary and include retail customers who are interested in purchasing Intelligentsia products online, customers who are looking to find more information about a store location and/or customers that are interested in wholesale opportunities with Intelligentsia.

5. How does the site market and advertise in order to attract consumer interest?

To attract customers to their website via marketing and advertising, Intelligentsia leverages a number of different channels.
  1. Email Marketing – Intelligentsia has an email program that allows customers to sign up for their newsletter and receive emails with offers and current information about Intelligentsia and their products and offerings.
  2. Social Media – Intelligentsia has a presence on Facebook and Twitter which they promote and use as a marketing tool to engage customers.
  3. iPhone App – Intelligentsia uses its app to market to customers and continue a relationship with them, pushing special offers to their device as appropriate. This helps to keep Intelligentsia customers in an active state with the company, who are more likely to make repeat purchases.

6. How does the site attract different types of customers such as impulsive, patient and analytical buyers?

To attract impulsive buyers Intelligentsia features a rotation of products on their home page. Additionally, the company has an iPhone App that allows them to push sales and other special offers and news to their customers’ devices creating a two-way dialogue between the company and the customer. Additionally, their website uses a “May we also recommend” feature that presents like items to buyers when they are reviewing product details. To attract patient buyers, Intelligentsia allows buyers to subscribe to emails or download the iPhone app that will alert them when products go on sale. Additionally, customers can subscribe to the @Home program with allows customers to make repeating purchases, sending a customer the same item once/month (or as otherwise stated) to replenish their supply of coffee. For the analytical buyer Intelligentsia encourages customers to research their products, providing them with ample information for both its products and services (barista classes, facility tours, etc.). Intelligentsia not only provides customers with information about their products, but they also provide detailed information about their growers, for those buyers who want to dig deeper into the product research.

7. What types of tools and features does the site provide to enhance customer experience?

Intelligentsia offers customers with various tools and features to enhance their experience:
  • The Intelligentsia website allows customers to create a profile that will remember your recent orders, billing information, and shipping address, to make subsequent orders effortless.
  • They offer a service called @Home which will schedule reoccurring orders of the same product to replenish customer’s at home coffee supply weekly, monthly, etc.
  • They feature videos with grower interviews, product reviews, etc., to engage and educate the customer
  • The website features large scale photography that pulls the user in. They also feature in page photo galleries providing the customer with a large amount of media to review about their different products.

8. How does the site process order placement and payment?

The Intelligentsia website has basic ordering placement and payment capabilities. The website offers a shopping cart feature allowing customers to shop throughout different sessions. Once customers have added all desired items to their cart, they can review their order and enter any coupons at that time. If the customer is logged in, their payment, billing and shipping information will all be saved, enabling quick and efficient order completion. Once a customer has placed an order, they enter into Intelligentsia’s transactional email stream and they receive a confirmation email and then a notification once the item has shipped. Customers can log into their account at any time to track their order progress.

9. How does the site handle delivery, shipping and returns?

Intelligentsia offers two shipping methods, UPS Ground or UPS 2 Day Air or Overnight. They no longer offer shipping via USPS due to service issues experienced by their customers. Prior to placing an order, their website allows customers to find exact shipping pricing on the available shipping options. Intelligentsia’s website does not include any information regarding product returns or exchanges.

10. How does the site maintain customer service and support?

Intelligentsia’s customer support consists of a Contact Us page allowing customers to enter their information and a description of their issue/concern. They do not list a response time, and say that they will get back to customer inquiries “shortly”. The company also handles some customer service support issues via Facebook and Twitter.

11. How useful is the site’s special interface feature and arrangement of content?

The Intelligentsia website has a clean and modern user interface. The website is easy to use—tasks can be completed in few steps and they are rememberable and consistent allowing return visitors to navigate through the site easily. The content on the website relies heavily on photography that engages the user. The main navigation of the website is simple and clean, however secondary navigation is cluttered and sometimes overwhelming. All content is accurate and updated regularly. The website aligns to the Intelligentsia brand and provides online customers with a similar experience to that which a customer would have at a brick and mortar location.

12. Describe how the site provides a utilitarian and hedonic shopping experience.

The Intelligentsia website provides a utilitarian shopping experience by providing clean and simple site navigation and easy ordering for return customers. The site however, lends itself more towards the hedonic shoppers providing them with a rich visual experience with large-scale photography, videos and other rich media. Additionally, Intelligentsia offers product recommendations, an email newsletter and an iPhone App to continue to engage customers and harness their emotional buying tendencies.

13. What are some possible improvements or enhancements you would recommend in order to improve customer loyalty?

The Intelligentsia website does a great job expressing their brand and connecting customers with products, grower bios and store locations, however I would recommend a number of items to help them to further engage with their online audience:
  • Intelligentsia should work to further simplify their secondary navigation. Their main navigation is clean, modern and simple, however their secondary navigation is at times overpowering with the number of options, and the text is too small, making it hard for users to locate the content that they are searching for.
  • They should better integrate with their social channels. The website home page and interior pages do not feature their Facebook page, and the only way to find out about the location specific Twitter account is to access the location page on the website. They should highlight all social channels consistently throughout the website experience so that they can increase their customer engagement.
  • They should post information about their return policy online. Customers are much more likely to complete a purchase when they are aware of the return policy. By not having it visible on the website, customers are more hesitant to complete the purchase.
  • They should add a product search to the website. Because the secondary navigation is difficult to use, they could be losing out on customers who can’t find the product that they are looking for. By adding a keyword search to the website, Intelligentsia could help to alleviate this concern.
  • Lastly, they should add a compare feature to their site allowing customers to compare the different coffee (or other products) chosen to help customers in the purchase funnel.

References

Boers, Carly. "Who Is the Best Coffee Roaster in Chicago?" Chicago Magazine Print Section. Chicago Magazine — A Chicago Tribune Website, Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2013. <http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2013/Grounds-Control/>.

Intelligentsia Coffee. Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, Inc., 2011. Web. 23 September 2013. <http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/>.

Walsh, Chris. "9 Best Boutique Coffee Shops in Chicago | Zagat Blog." 9 Best Boutique Coffee Shops in Chicago | Zagat Blog. Zagat Survey, LLC, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2013. <http://blog.zagat.com/2013/02/9-best-boutique-coffee-shops-in-chicago.html>.