During high school and college, Lisa worked in an upscale retail boutique. On the mornings Lisa opened the store, she grew to love the deep, rich smell of the coffee that would permeate the air from the local gourmet food store across from the boutique. Her love for coffee only deepened as she experienced local cafés throughout her travels while in college. In the back of her mind, she glamorized opening her own café.

Throughout her early thirties, Lisa looked at locations, talked with coffee entrepreneurs, developed business feasibility studies, and dreamed of one day having her own place. One big problem was finding the right geographical area where a small, independent coffee shop would be successful.

After moving for the fifth time, Lisa realized the new, growing community where she now lived with her two small children lacked one important thing—good coffee. The town was rapidly expanding and was the fastest growing community in the state of Tennessee. This might be the time and place to revisit the idea of a coffee shop.

Case Questions

a. What type of consumer buying behavior are consumers exhibiting when they are buying coffee?

b. Consumers are faced with many different influences when they are making purchasing decisions. What social influences have the greatest impact on the decision to purchase coffee from Wired Coffee Bar? What personal influences have the greatest impact?

c. What situational factors may influence consumers to purchase from Wired Coffee Bar versus Starbucks?

d. How might Wired Coffee Bar further differentiate itself from other coffee bars as consumers search for alternatives in their buyer decision-making process?