Tchibo Ideas:

Leveraging the
creativity of
customers

- Group 9x , Section A
Anurag Raghuwanshi
Sandeep Pande
Saurav Kapoor
Manish Lohan
Subhendu Pradhan
Jacob
 Background
 Tchibo began in 1949, based on coffee service

 In 1955, Tchibo opened the first German Coffee Shop

 By 1958, it was operating more than 77 stores across Germany

 In 1987, Tchibo established co-operations with supermarkets for its non-food business

 In 2007, “Tchibo Idea” initiative was born

 In 2008, “Tchibo Idea” was launched as one of the first crowdsourcing innovation platforms
in Germany

 By 2010, there were more than 8,000 active members on the platform

Product offering of Tchibo can be classified into 3 borad segments –

“Coffee Experience”, “Coffee Shop Experience” & “Non-Food Experience”
 Competitors

Coffee Market Coffee Shop Market Non-Food Market Others

Retailers Indirect
ranging from competitors that
apparel to had a similar
grocery business model
stores with Tchibo. E.g,
including Starbucks
expanding into
selling coffee-
related goods like
apparel and others.
 Marketing Mix

Product Place

Coffee 800 Tchibo shops across Germany

Tchibo depots in 9000 supermarkets
Consumer goods Tchibo Direct – ecommerce platform

German
Market

Price Promotion

The value proposition of Tchibo Promotional activities e.g preview of

was to provide high quality the forthcoming assortment of
products at low prices products were carried out through
Tchibo Direct
 What is Tchibo Ideas?
The concept was to link designers and customers via the Internet platform, with
customers bringing their problems and designers designing solutions.

How Tchibo Ideas worked?

Problem Ideas of solutions Voting Stage Idea

definition by designers implementation
stage
• Ideas were only
implemented if designers
co-operated.
• Customers wrote • Users of the
• Designers would platform were given
about the the power to vote
•In case of non co-
post their ideas of operation, the winner gets
problems that they amongst the ideas a prize of 10,000 Euros
solutions to the presented regarding
face in their day to
problems posted which one to
day lives on the implement
• If the designer co-
by the customers operates, he enters into a
platform 3-year contract
• Product managers guaranteeing him 2% of the
also had a part to net retail sales. The
play in idea product packaging had the
implementation name and picture of the
designer
 Dilemma Faced by Tchibo
Current Situation : Tchibo Ideas was still in its initial phases and hence the investments
and costs for the production of chosen ideas (including licensing)
were high.

Strategic dilemma –

What is the best direction to develop Tchibo Ideas for the future?

Should it be used as a learning and engagement platform?

Should it be used as an add-on to the traditional product development process?

Will an increased focus on the platform give the customer more power and
responsibility?
Analysis of Online brand popularity of Tchibo

Being a local player, online platform on Tchibo attracts the largest traffic just after Amazon
and Ebay and has the second best mean image rating after Amazon.

Thus we can conclude, Tchibo is doing a good job in engaging its users over their online
platform and they are pretty popular amongst the users along with high brand awareness and
high consumer trust in the German Market.
 Recommendations
To continue with the development of the Tchibo Ideas initiative both as a learning and
engagement platform and as an add-on to the traditional product development process

Reasons to support the decision –

• Given the online popularity and number of visits to the platform, it can be used as a
promotional channel as well as for market research

• Allowing customers to post their problems, helps Tchibo to better know their needs
and saves cost of market research thereby coming up with relevant products

• This will facilitate their aim to be an innovative company giving them the access to ideas
outside the organization, which might not have come up from within the organization

• Giving the user the power to select the idea to be implemented makes them feel in power
and thus it has a part to play in consumer trust on the brand Tchibo, giving them the idea
that they are being listened to

• The engagement that results out of the discussion among the users is also a critical
contributor to user retention and consequently the success of the online platform
THANK YOU