Observational Research at cafe in CMU

Observational Research 

We set out to observe the consumer behavior in one of the CMU’s cafe. We did this observation in two parts, first during noon on Monday and out of curiosity to compare the difference, the second one during morning hours on Tuesday. We noted that to reach same number of customer observations as that of afternoon it took around 50 minutes more in morning (double than that of afternoon). We made our other observations using certain set of parameters while people were making the purchase. Parameter categories include, Total Count of people, Gender, Type of their order, Menu Awareness, Payment Methodology, Location Preference, Group or Individual Purchase and the Effect of Item on Display. We also observed if there were any difference in all these preference for males and females. We discuss our findings for each parameter categories below.

For Type of Order category we observed if customer is buying drink, snack or both. Number of customers buying only drink was slightly more in morning than in afternoon (53%-60%), same for only snacks (6%-14%), but less customer purchased both drink & snacks (40%-26%). Considering genders, percent of male customers purchasing only drink was similar in afternoon and morning. Male customers who bought only snacks were tripled (5%-15%), while ones who bought both drink and snacks were decreased (35%-27%). Trend was similar for female customers in purchasing only snacks (7%-12%) and both drink & snacks (46%-24%) from afternoon to morning. But number of female customers purchasing only drink increased in morning (46%-64%). From these observations it can be concluded that almost 60% customers buy only drink. Female customers buy more snacks in afternoon, while same percent of male customers buy snacks during afternoon or morning.

For Payment Methodology category we observed whether customers preferred paying by cash or by card. We found that most of the purchases were being made using card but the major difference which we could observe was that 38% of people preferred cash in the morning while only 18% of the people preferred cash in the afternoon. Looking at the numbers we could conclude that more men preferred paying by card always, whereas women preferred paying by cash in the morning.

For Menu Awareness category we observed if customer was aware of the menu or not. Only 15% of total customers we observed asked for the menu. Number of female customers who asked the menu was significantly more (26%) compared to male customers (7%). Trend was similar in morning.

For Effect of Item on Display category we observed if the foods, which were on display, had any effect on the customer’s buying decision. In general a very small percentage of people preferred to buy the food, which was on display, in the morning this number was around 14% while in the afternoon it was about 20%. Both the times more percent of female customers were impacted by the food items on display.

For Location Preference category we observed if customers preferred to sit in the cafe to enjoy their food. What we understood from observing this cafe is that most customers who sit in the cafe don’t empty their seats for a long time. While 70% of customers preferred to take their food away, remaining 30% found place in cafe to have their food. Except that in morning more male customers preferred to sit in the cafe than in the afternoon. For female customers percentage was nearly same at both times.

For Purchasing Group category in total only 9% customers came in-group of two or more. 15% of female customers were in-group, while only 5% male were in-group in afternoon. The number was tripled for male customers (15%), while doubled for female customer (36%) in morning. This suggests during afternoon customer tend to purchase alone at coffee shop.

Another qualitative point during our observation we found was queue was building up at counter at certain time but used to clear within 5-10 minutes. If cashier was friendlier it took little bit more time to serve each customer, but there was more interaction with customers and they were leaving the counter with smile. Also most of the customers were students.

From all these observations we conclude that 60% customers were male while 40% were female. Majority of customers ordered drinks, almost all of them were aware of menu and majority of them took away the order. Majority of customers preferred to pay by card and most of them came individually.

Note 1: Quantitative data was recored on excel and can be downloaded from here. 

Note 2: This research was done as part of coursework for Marketing Research class at Tepper-CMU along with Vijith Venkatesh