TCHIBO IDEAS: LEVERAGING

THE CREATIVITY OF
CUSTOMERS

Agrim Garg 19P005

Garima Tyagi 19P018
Mehul Jain 19P027
P J Naveen 19P029
Rishabh Singh 19P039
Sarvagya Jha 19P041
Bhrigu Chopra 19P078
Tchibo
• First four letters of Mr. Tchilling-Hiryan’s name with the
first two letters of “bohne,” the German word for
“beans.
• coffee: giving German consumers a highly desirable
product that had become rare after the Second World
Wa
Growth

1949 1958 1987

Creation of Tchibo 77 stores and “Gold Mocca” Tchibo Depot

First German coffee shop Non food Tchibo Direct

1955 1970 1996

Three-pronged Business Model
 Competition
Coffee
Coffee Non-food
shop Other
market market
market
Competitor in one
McDonalds’ market becoming
Nestlé
McCafé competitor in
Complex another
(included retailers
ranging from
apparel)
Indirect
Kraft Starbucks
Competition
 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
 Tchibo’s Market Positioning
a. In 2010, The company had the
second most number of coffee
shops in Germany.
b. It was considered the most
trusted Brand in the Tea/Coffee
Category
a. 3rd rank in non food sales in the
a. 10th largest apparel retailer in
food retail trade by revenue in 2005
Germany by gross revenue
b. 4th largest in the overall food
b. Strongest retail brand in
retail trade by number of stores
Germany(Brand strength = 7.62)
and revenue

2nd position in customer 3rd rank in web shops by number

satisfaction in coffee bars(70.1%) of visitors in millions (6529 mn)
 Launched in 2008 based on Tchibo’s approach of making products to
simplify the consumer’s daily life of while surprising them every week

The company promoted the platform by sending a mystery package to

100 bloggers, later resolving the mystery and introducing the
crowdfunding portal-a move seen as unusual for the traditional
company
Tchibo Ideas It was introduced as a design contest for professional designers to
solve everyday problems of consumers.

Tchibo created the platform with clear rules for all users while keeping
the platform simple.
How Tchibo Ideas worked?

Problem definition
• Customers wrote about the problems that they face in their day to day lives on the platform

Ideas of solutions by designers

• Designers would post their ideas of solutions to the problems posted by the customers

Voting Stage
• Users of the platform were given the power to vote amongst the ideas presented regarding which one to implement
• Product managers also had a part to play in idea implementation

Idea implementation stage

• Ideas were only implemented if designers co-operated
• In case of non co-operation, the winner gets a prize of 10,000 Euros
• f the designer co-operates, he enters into a 3-year contract guaranteeing him 2% of the net retail sales. The product packaging
had the name and picture of the designer
Tchibo’s offering to the customers

“Our products are made

to surprise, beautify, “a new experience every
and also simplify week”
customers’ lives”
 Discussions regarding establishment of the platform and how to
measure its success

Initially a part of the business innovation unit and was closely

tied to the management board in the beginning.
Development
of Mobilization of the platform in 2010 with more than 8000 active
members discussing almost a 1000 problems and proposing more than
Tchibo 600 solutions.

Ideas
Integrated with the marketing department of Tchibo’s E-
commerce business once the platform was mobilized.

“Tchibo Ideas was another source for gathering information about

consumer needs”
  Tchibo Ideas allowed the company to be more innovative

 Provided Innovative ideas to Tchibo’s Product Managers

 Initially, there was a separate section for Tchibo Idea products;

afterwards, they were inserted in Tchibo’s Weekly assortments

Consequences  Enhanced the brand image of Tchibo as an innovative company

of  Customer involvement in Tchibo ideas was expected to reduce

marketing and consumer research costs by 20-30% in the
Tchibo coming years

Ideas  Divided opinion of the designer community- one half saw it as a

great opportunity for success while the other half believed that
Tchibo was exploiting their professional knowledge for very
less money

 Some bloggers were skeptical of the purpose of the platform

labelled it as a marketing gimmick
Tchibo’s Dilemmas

Whether to use the platform mainly

to learn from consumers or to make
How helpful is giving customers it a tool of mass co-creation of new
more power and responsibility? products?

Whether to maintain the platform as

an add-on to the existing traditional
product development process?
 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.

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

Recommendations 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

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

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