Costa was facing some challenges. Fierce competition from new challenger brands and the proliferation of independents – and High street footfall being far from buoyant in more suburban towns amidst sad looking high streets; combining to create a difficult market.

A test and learn approach

We worked collaboratively with Costa to determine what it should change to better meet consumer needs. Using our weekly consumer sentiment tracker, The Score, along with a quant survey, we gathered insights into how people were using the high street and coffee stores along with perspectives on Costa.

Identifying that it needed to change its instore environment, to better attract future audiences, Costa adopted a test and learn approach – piloting new store formats developed from our insights. Assisted shopping trips and eye tracking analysis helped overcome the ‘say do’ gap, so Costa could invest appropriately in the stores where changes would have the biggest impact.

Driving real impact

Senior stakeholders were convinced, quickly responding with store testing, and roll-out across over 20 UK stores to date and plans to continue this globally.

‘The Insight was key to support our business case for change and engage the project team and senior stakeholders. Further on in the project, the insight was revisited and shared with store colleagues in training sessions and with franchise partners as part of our content for global playbooks.’

Abhishek Velani – Senior Propositions Manger, Costa