What is the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word 'coffee'?
The home in the morning, and a boiling pot on the kitchen table waiting to be poured into a mug before you rush out the door?
The office in the late afternoon, and a large meeting room packed with executives dressed in power suits and sipping their brews around a table, all desperately trying to stay awake? If, instead, you picture large brown sofas, round coffee tables, soft music, people chatting and reading the papers, then you have certainly been sold on the concept of retail-tainment.
This combination of retail and entertainment concepts is a widely used merchandising tool in the coffee business.
Although it is an age-old tradition to lounge around the kitchen table to have afternoon tea, many coffee companies have brought this kind of atmosphere to their coffee business.
Thomas Hahn, general manager of Starbucks Hong Kong, described the concept as a theatre where the store is the stage, the warm lighting and the furniture are part of the decoration, the smell of coffee sets the scene, and the partners (as the staff are known at Starbucks) are the actors, engaged in an informative interaction with customers against a backdrop of soft music.
'All these elements melded into one form part of the experience of buying a cup of coffee,' he said.