Opinions of Fresh Coffee Shop Owners Towards Importance of Shop Environment Components

Abstract

This independent study aims to explore opinions of the fresh coffee shop owners toward the importance of shop environment components by using the concept of the style, the theory of important picture perception, the concept of shop identity design, and the concept of market segmentation, market targeting and market positioning (STP Marketing). An in-depth structured interview was used as a qualitative research method to acquire information on how to develop the environmental design affecting business operation of the ten fresh coffee shop owners in Chiang Mai Province. The results of the study which explored views of the ten fresh coffee shop toward the importance of environmental components of the ten non-franchised shops in Chiang Mai Province found that the five fresh coffee shop owners were females and the other five were males. Their average age was 30 years. Six of them were single and held a bachelor’s degree. Five of them operated their business as a single owner and their shops were open for business for two years. Eight fresh coffee shops were operated as a commercial business and two of them were run as a juristic person. Six of the fresh coffee owners were experienced business owners. Fresh coffee, beverages, snacks, cake, and bakery were served in their fresh coffee shop business. The shops were averagely open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The design styles of the environment and shop decoration can be divided into nature, modern, loft, industrial, and unique style. Two of the ten shops were designed in a nature style, two in a modern style, four in a loft style, one in an industrial style, and the other one in a unique style. All in-depth structured interviews were conducted in the coffee shops of the interviewees. The interviews averagely lasted for two hours. The finding of the study on the definition of the design for business illustrated that the fresh coffee owners perceived the design for business as creative thinking or an artwork that helped boost the sales and make the target group understand the shop styles. Furthermore, it created shop differentiation, innovations to suit the business, and identity for their products and business. Elements blended to create the differences and impress the customers helped develop the products and services and promote the marketing strategies. The result of the study on the attitudes of the fresh coffee shop owners toward the use of the design for the fresh coffee shop business operation revealed that the majority of them used the design in their fresh coffee shops at a high level to respond to the purpose of use and create business images. That is to say, consumer product design, graphic design and multimedia were used. The finding of the study on views of the fresh coffee shop owners toward marketing strategies which were market segmentation, market targeting and market positioning (STP Marketing) for the competition within the coffee shop industry revealed that the market segmentation of each shop depended on the models of service and the images which met the customer needs. The result of the study on problematic factors and obstacles toward the use of design in coffee shop business operation found that the majority of the business owners agreed that the budget and increasing expenses of using the design to promote the products and services, and build up their business images were the barriers to their business operation at a high level. The problematic factors were, for example, the cost of hiring a designer or an architect, the expenditure on shop structure, design and decoration, the cost of tools and equipment, and marketing expenses, followed by the quality management, service system, and staff training.