Project Pike
Coffee Brand Merchandise Innovation Strategy
PROJECT INFO
Brand | PMI
Design | frog design
Year | 2020
Primary Output | Product Strategy + Product Concept Design
ROLE & SKILL
Design Strategist | Market analysis, User research, Product innovation strategy, Concept validation
Industrial Designer | Concept ideation, Concept visualization, Prototyping
Finding the next opportunity in Greater China's coffee merchandise market
PMI is one of the most important merchandise partners of Starbucks, which develops and produces a variety of merchandise for Starbucks. However, PMI was facing a challenging situation with other Starbucks suppliers in the Great China Market. They came to us to seek market opportunity areas and potential ideas for their new product development pipeline, hoping to identify category and product opportunities by understanding consumers' lifestyle and their unrevealed needs.
CHALLENGE
Navigate among market differences while aligning with the global brand values and strategies
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Multiple stakeholders with different understandings of the markets. How to navigate among the stakeholders?
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How to implement consistent brand values across different end markets while remaining a certain kind of localization?
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How to follow global brand strategies while integrating China-local strategies?
APPROACH
Broaden the horizon of merch category through 'lifestyle'
Identify consumers who resonate with Starbucks' brand values to understand their goals and lifestyles. This will help us explore their motivations for purchasing merchandise and how these align with their lifestyles. By revealing the logic behind, we'll be able to explore the prospective merchandise for Starbucks consumers.
WHAT'S LIFESTYLE
Lifestyle is the way in which people organize their lives according to a central purpose
Lifestyle is the way in which people organize their lives according to a central purpose, expressed through activities, interests, and opinions that they lack, do not possess, or have values inherent in their minds.
WHY LIFESTYLE？
Starbucks is understood as an experience brand
rather than a commodity brand in China
In China, while some see coffee as a regular drink, it still represents a modern lifestyle.
As a result, many consumers visit coffee shops for the vibe and experience, not just the coffee.
Starbucks store shelves in the US and China
Most of the Starbucks merchandise in the US are coffee related items, while most of them are irrelevant categories in China.
DISCOVERING
Exploring Starbucks Consumers:
Lifestyle insights and brand connection
To understand what Starbuck means to their consumers, we not only discussed lifestyle with interviewees but also explored their brand perceptions and observed their in-store behavior.
Store visit
Ideal lifestyle activity
Starbucks brand perception activity
Sacrificial concepts as stimuli
DEVELOPING
Leveraging cross-industry learnings for inspiration
During the concept development phase, we generated ideas with the learnings from previous projects as inspiration. This cross-pollination of cross-category expertise allows us to bypass conventional thinking, leveraging proven patterns to inspire novel concepts and meaningful user experiences.
Learning new technologies
Inspired an idea
Prototype to validate
Concept demonstration
ANALYSIS
We successfully identified five types of lifestyle that resonates with Starbucks consumers
During the synthesis, five types emerged when we explored their lifestyles and the motivation for our respondents to purchase. These lead to the new product opportunity space for Starbucks' future product lines.
LIFESTYLE EXAMPLE
Best Friends Forever
"I look forward to a constant companionship and a shared life. "
"I hope my pets and I can grow old together, accompany each other every day, do everything together, care for each other, eventually be equal life partners and best friends forever!"
BRAND PERCEPTION
Enthusiastic pet owners are one of Starbucks' loyal consumer groups due to their perception of Starbucks' "pet friendliness", "reliable and high-quality food", and "value of sustainability".
They believe Starbucks is the place they can hang out with their beloved pets without worrying.
BUSINESS RATIONALE
The need for companionship among Starbucks' younger consumers, who are remaining
single for long periods, makes facilitating "easy relationships" a valuable proposition.
Supporting evidence- Pet market size
Supporting evidence- Pet market growth
VALUE PROPOSITION
"
Strengthen the Human-Pet Connection:
Make me feel closer to my pet,
while keeping them happy and healthy.
OBSERVATION
The popular free "Puppuccino"
The free Pupppuccino is one of the main reasons that makes pet owners willing to hang out with their pets at Starbucks. They see it as a benefit and good quality treats for their beloved pets.
ISSUE
It can be embarrassing asking for free snacks
The interviewee told us she feels very happy when seeing her dog enjoying the Puppuccino. However, it is always a bit embarrassing for her to ask the staff for free food.
INSIGHT
"Paying for my doggies is my love gesture for them."
Pet owners see their pets as their kids, they’re more than happy to pay for them to provide them better quality food.
CONCEPT EXAMPLE
Edible Puppuccino Bowl
By premiumizing the complimentary "Puppuccino" into a high-quality, eco-friendly offering, we transformed a free giveaway into a meaningful brand ritual. This shift replaces the hesitation of asking for a freebie with the pride of a conscious purchase, increasing emotional satisfaction and brand loyalty even at a higher price point.
DOWNSELECT
Using a framework to align the concepts with the company's business strategy
We used the framework to organize and cluster the concepts, which helped us to prioritize and arrange the concepts into a holistic product roadmap.
Framework for concept downselect
RESULT
Delivered the consumer lifestyle report and the
innovation guideline along with example concepts
In the end of the project, we identified categories to expand under 5 lifestyles derived from frog design research. Product value proposition and principles for each lifestyle are proposed. 6 refined concepts are delivered as examples.
Deliverables: Lifestyle report and innovation guideline
Deliverables: Six main concept examples
Deliverables: Printing guidelines
CREDITS
Brand
PMI
Design
frog design
Team
David Wang, River Cheng, Kuo-Chieh Wang,
Jane Liu, Melanie Hung, Shirley Chen