Zero to One Product Strategy, Ideation, Delivery & Implementation.
Harnessing data to drive simplicity: how costa built a unified mobile platform to transform store management and daily operations.
Costa had a plethora of coffee store data from multiple systems and platforms. This included staffing, POS, waste, deliveries and stock management. Over time this multitude of systems had introduced a administrative burden for the Store Managers, having to rely on outdated systems accessed on a store laptop. This led to Managers having to spend an increasing amount of time back-of-house.
Costa wanted to create a product to consolidate these systems into a single, easy to use tool that wouldn’t disrupt the daily routine of running a cafe. The objectives was to reduce admin, create a user-friendly tool and to get Store Managers spending more time front-of-house.
Challenge.
The Three core challenges;
1. Lack of visibility about the end user, A data led project with little understanding or visibility for the end user, Store Managers and jobs they do on a daily basis. The reporting system was inadequate and time consuming.
2. Multiple decentralised data points, Costa held thousands of data points from multiple in-store systems, none of it consolidated. Store managers were heavily reliant on manual processes to access and analyse data.
3. Move to being product and customer led, Costa wanted to create a customer first product, built, tested and launched with Store Managers at its core. The need for a single source of truth, easy to access and supported by mobile
Approach.
Our end-to-end approach began with a four-week discovery phase combining strategy, customer experience, data, and engineering. This included immersive store visits, co-creation workshops, user prototyping, and business case validation. With a clear green light to proceed, we transitioned into roadmap development and MVP delivery, mapping key store manager job stories, defining a product north star, prioritising features, and building a progressive web app powered by Databricks.
Part 1: Assess & Validate
Four-Week Discovery:
Store exploration sessions, day in the life of a Store Manager.
Workshops and discovery sessions with the wider business.
Internal ideation and clickable prototype.
User workshops & prototype testing day.
Online usability testing on prototype with users.
Kill, Pivot, Continue (Fail Fast):
Qualitative product feasibility assessment.
Financial business case development.
Green light to continue with investment of product.
Part 2: Roadmap & MVP
Roadmap, Job Stories & Prioritisation:
Job story development for core competencies of the product.
Value stream creation and mapping.
Product north star.
Workstream allocation.
Kano + Impact/Effort prioritisation.
MVP Development:
Mapping the key and relevant data points related to jobs and user outcomes.
Databricks set-up and data point consumption.
Architecture set-up.
Development of front-end as a progressive web app (PWA).
Approach Part 3: Test, Monitor & Launch
Test, Learn, Monitor & Iterate:
Launch in 68 test stores across 3 Costa regions.
Monitor success through user testing, analytics and performance metrics vs. control stores.
Facilitation of focus groups with all 68 stores.
Iteration of product in-sprints based on live feedback.
Launching v1 to All Users & Stores:
Consolidation of features based on feedback to form a ‘version one’ fully launchable product to all Costa stores.
Internal marketing materials.
Demo videos and launch plan emails.
Four week phased launch to all Costa store network.
Outcome.
Costa Compass launched in a record 12 weeks, from ideation to the first MVP iteration. All 68 trial stores actively engaged and provided feedback for the first version. The first version then launched to 1,500 UK stores just 12 weeks later.
Since its full launch, Compass has significantly impacted store performance. The application fostered friendly regional competition, driving sales growth. Closer waste monitoring led to reductions, improving efficiency. Store managers reduced time spent on administrative tasks.
“Costa Compass, an in-pocket store tool to drive operational excellence across the Costa network.”
Methods & Tools.
The information below details a selection of the methodologies, techniques and tools used to deliver the project..
Methods
Design sprints
Value proposition design & canvas
Customer journey & friction mapping
Qualitative & Quantitative research
Job story & segmentation development
Store Manager profile mapping
Short + long-term CX recommendation
Implementation plan
Roadmap creation
Impact / Effort prioritisation
Tools
Databricks
PWA (progressive web app)
ChatGPT
CI&T Flow AI tools
Miro
Synthesia AI
Figma
Dovetail
Lookback
TheyDo