In conversation with Ravi Makwana of Tim Hortons, Social Samosa discusses how the brand is spreading their business in the Indian market that has steadily adapted to an international coffee palette.
Today, the average coffee drinker isn’t satisfied with regular instant coffee, they are inclined to a much richer and more complicated flavour palette.
This complication is especially fueled by the uptake of international coffee brands entering the market. From London’s Costa Coffee to America’s favourite – Starbucks; Indians today have a long list of coffee blends to choose from.
Once dominated by a few players, the industry is becoming highly fragmented too. As per Statista's findings, the coffee industry in India is valued at $808 million and is projected to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% from 2020 to 2025.
Adding onto this vast menu, Tim Hortons, a Canadian legacy coffee brand established in 1964, entered the Indian market in 2022, starting with the Northern city of Delhi. With the link between Punjabis and freezing Canada, and the Indian audience's want for international taste, the brand is slowly spreading their aroma throughout the country. Social Samosa takes a stroll through the new entrant’s marketing and business themes in India in this brief conversation with Ravi Makwana, Chief Marketing & Product Officer, Tim Hortons India.
Edited Excerpts:
Can you provide an overview of the factors that led to the decision to enter the Indian market? What were the key considerations and challenges involved in adapting the Tim Hortons brand and offerings to suit the Indian market?
With a surge in coffee consumption in India and especially with the emergence of this culture among the Gen-Z audience, an evident boom in the economy, and the indigenous players growing at a huge rate in the nation, the brand finally decided to enter the Indian market.
Could you share insights into the market research conducted before entering India? What were the main findings and how did they influence Tim Hortons' market positioning and marketing strategies?
Long before the brick for Tim Hortons in India was laid, deep consumer research was conducted in order to strategize and understand the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of entering a market like India.
Ravi Makwana
This research included four major factors:
The first step was to understand the audience and get a user-generated analysis of what the cafe culture in the country looked like. Through this, the brand understood the need gap and the missing elements in the industry. This also gave the brand the audience’s mental map when it comes to cafes and coffee in general.
Through this, the brand came to the conclusion that Tim Hortons needs to bridge the gap between a QSR and a Cafe in India, and this is what the brand’s positioning today looks like.
The second aspect that the brand explored is whether the audience resonated with the fact that the brand’s backbone of offering 100% Arabica Coffee beans, a selling point in the nation. The brand wanted to understand whether the Indian audience will be open to the international coffee taste. After a lengthy market research, the brand understood that it can’t just enter a diverse market with a single roast.
With a market that clearly associates coffee with either extremely strong or something in between mild and sweet, Tim Hortons entered the market with two different roasts in India – a signature medium and a signature dark roast.
The third factor that the brand looked into was the food culture. Indians wanted an equally rich food palette with their coffees. And a need gap that the brand saw was the lack of freshly prepared food at cafes, something Tim Hortons globally provides. And that's the model that the brand has adopted for their food offerings.
Lastly, the design was an important factor to consider. We had largely two design themes that we tested out. The outcome of this research was, customers resonated with a blend of these two designs. The audience liked certain elements of Canada that gave them the global aspiration, and certain non-alien and Indian elements that balanced out the experience for them.
What specific marketing strategies were employed to create awareness and generate interest among Indian consumers about Tim Hortons' entry into the market?
Luckily, Tim Hortons as a brand is very salient, especially to people in the North of India. The connection and affinity of North with Canada as a country helped in driving the conversation. There was a residual awareness about the brand that helped generate buzz for the brand. When the brand entered the market, Delhi and North were obvious choices, because they were better aware of the brand than the rest of the country.
To do so, digital was the medium of choice that gave the brand the agility to sharp target a certain section of the audience and create a brand persona where it would immediately become a more lifestyle brand than just a cafe brand. Social creatives, relevant influencers and word of mouth were the initial mediums that helped with brand visibility.
Ravi Makwana
Please take us through your media mix. How much per cent of your total mix is reserved for digital?
A hard truth about the cafe industry is that people don’t come in because of advertising, it's the experience that brings people in.
If people have had a good experience with us, they will return and additionally bring more people with them. Unless there is a good experience in the store, people will not come and you won’t be able to get the traffic that you aspire to.
The brand's focus stays on the age-old rules of the industry, the in-store experience. Having good hygiene, good ambiance, product quality, and providing the utmost customer experience and satisfaction.
For the time being, as a young brand in the country, we are focusing on digital heavily with the usual product drop announcements, branch openings, and influencer and customer reach.
How has the coffee industry changed after many D2C brands have mushroomed? How are you keeping up with the changes in the landscape?
D2C is good news for this industry. With D2C, the pie size of the industry is increasing. D2C brands are bringing a newer palette of coffee to the Indian market and warming up the audience to this taste.
With these D2C brands welcoming the Indian audience and bringing them artisanal tastes to their doorsteps, it has helped the coffee industry in general and has in turn increased the industry pie size.
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