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Character

Second Cup: Characteristics and Brand Personality of Other Coffee Brands

September 24, 2021 by Essay Writer

Second Cup was a company which was doing really good in the market till 2012 with around 400 stores spread all across the country. There are a lot factors which can affect a company’s market value or reputation. Sudden changes in these factors could affect the performance of the company just like how it had affected Second Cup. The Company’s peak suddenly went down due to certain unforeseen changes in the market and Second Cup could not come with something new to compete in the market. These were some of the main key issues the company was facing during that time :

  • High competition: One of the main issues that Second Cup faced was high competition in the market. Second Cup being a premium coffee brand had lost their control in the coffee chain market with the launch of the three new rivals company’s which were Starbucks, Tim Hortons and McDonalds.
  • Number of stores: This was another major issue which had affected the company’s performance. People look for convenience and accessibility when it comes to getting a coffee so it’s very hard to compete when the rival companies has lots of stores surrounding them. Second Cup was not in the state to open up enough number of stores to compete with the other companies and the competitors took advantage of this situation to attract customers and to take over the market.
  • Franchise Owners Trust: Second Cup was not able to keep the trust of the Franchise owners which is one another main reason for Second Cup to go down in the market. Since there was high competition and lots of stores surrounding them, The Franchise owners started to lose their trust for Second Cup and started giving up on the company. Second Cup should have tried to create a relationship and trust with the franchise owners because there is no way the company can create a relationship with the customers without creating relationship with the franchise owners.
  • Bankruptcy of Franchisees: The Second Cup Company has not been performing well enough to compete with the new rivals in the market mainly because of the bankruptcy of the franchise owners. With the sudden loss of customers, the company was unable to maintain cash flow to run the business and the Franchise owners started to lose their trust in the company.
  • Promotions: Second Cup being one of the premium coffee brand in the market didn’t have much promotional activities whereas the competitors had introduced a lot of promotions which quickly attracted most of the customers. Second Cup was not able to provide promotions like how the competitors providing and this was one major reason for them to lose their customers.

Characteristics and Brand personality of the following Coffee Brands:

  • Starbucks: Starbucks is a reputed and well know coffee shop in the market. This leading coffee organisation has over 25,000 stores around the world. The company mainly focuses on coffee oriented market which almost covers majority of the market share. Starbucks value their customers and provide them with attractive ambience and tries to provide an emotional value. They provide high quality services and always focus on satisfying their customers by asking feedbacks about their service and all. They also provide free Wifi to attract the working professionals.
  • Tim Hortons: They are widely famous and known for their Donuts and Coffee which covers a large proportion of the market share. The company is known for its excellent customer service and economical prices which attract the customers. The company tries to create relationships with the customers by asking them for feedbacks and they are environmentally responsible by making sure they recycle the waste produced by the company.
  • McDonalds: McDonalds is an American fast food restraint chain which is known for its attractive offers and cheap prices. They have established their market in the coffee segment and is doing pretty well in the market. McDonalds has been known for their economical prices and quick services. They have lots of stores which make it more accessible for the customers and they are very socially and environmentally responsible by taking environmental friendly actions and converting the energy through the right channel.
  • Second Cup: Second Cup is a premium Coffee brand which only believes in serving the high quality coffee which is made with Arabica coffees which had been brought from environmentally and socially friendly farms. They used to be one of the leading coffee brands in the country who believes in delivering quality over quantity. They target the high section of the market by providing a variety of options, comfort, ambience and attracting the customer with unique packing.

Second Cup has to work a lot to regain its value in the market now as the competition has gone up a lot in the recent years.

The company has to beat their rivals by creating trust and relationship with the customers and try to gain the market share they had in the past. Presently, Second Cup has to bring in some innovation and extra ordinary ideas to compete with their rivals like Tim Hortons, Starbucks and McDonalds. Second Cup Brand need to come up with solutions which can solve the issues which the current Franchisee owners are facing and try to create a trust with them. Second Cup needs to come up with ideas to solve the issue and bring in more profit and cash flow so that the Franchisee owners would be satisfied. Loosing Franchisee owners will lead to less capital and it might affect the company’s future.Second Cup could also encourage their Franchisees by letting them buy their lease agreement at a lesser price as they need to increase their number of stores in the market to compete with the rivals and to make our store more accessible for the customers. We could also attract these customers by bringing in some new and unique attractive entertainments in the Second Cup stores.

Finally, Second Cup could bring in some new ideas to create some app which is available for all software and which is very user friendly. The company should provide very unique and attractive deals and combos to their customers using the app. They could attract the customers by giving them 50% off on their first order using this app. Second Cup should also come with delivery options so that you can order from home using the app.

From the above three, I feel that the best idea was the second one which was to give the lease agreement at lesser price so Second Cup can increase their capital and increase the number of stores in the market. Increase in the number of stores will make it more accessible for the customers and should provide unique promotions to attract those customers. Bringing in more customers would lead to more cash flow and profit which would satisfy the Franchisee owners. Since there’s a lot of competition in the market, Second Cup has to compete with them by bringing in more stores in the market.

Basically Second Cup should come up with ideas to reduce the price of the lease agreement because that would attract a lot of Franchisees to set up new stores. Setting up a lot of stores in the market would make it more accessible for the customers and Second Cup can attract those customers using some attractive promotions. More Customers will lead to more cash flow and profit which would satisfy the Franchisee owners and in turn satisfy the Second Cup Company. So what Second Cup should do now is to give Lease agreement at a really good price so that would attract the Franchisee Owners and provide awesome promotions and deals to attract the customers.

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