Park Street Pastry

A Responsive Website

Research Plan

A research plan helps outline the goals, assumptions, and questions. It also helps organize who our participants will be and how we will conduct our primary research.

Research Goals:

• Identify the target market(s) for this business

• Identify customer needs at Park Street Pastry (on-site and online)

• Identify the selling points of the service (on-site and online)

• Find the biggest deterrents working against this service (on-site and online)

• Understand the brand of Park Street Pastry

  • As it currently exists

  • Identify how to further augment their brand in a seamless way (online)

• Identify competitors and their strengths/weaknesses 

Secondary Research

Market Research

I conducted general research first to gain more information about current trends and customer demographics for the bakery cafe industry in the United States. By getting a clear picture of the industry, this helps to inform who our participants will be for user interviews during the primary research phase.

TRENDS

• The market size of the Bakery Cafes industry is expected to increase 1.7% in 2021

• The baking industry generates more than $30 billion in revenue each year. The industry includes 6,000 retail bakeries and nearly 3,000 commercial bakeries.

• Opening a small, retail bakery requires less equity and is easier to start. Smaller bakeries can establish themselves with specialty products, such as whole-grain breads, and develop a loyal following of local customers.

• The primary negative factor affecting this industry is high competition, while the primary positive factor is low revenue volatility.

• Coffee and other beverages account for a large share of industry revenue, as most industry establishments serve coffee alongside baked goods. When coffee consumption increases, bakery cafes generally experience revenue growth. Per capita coffee consumption is expected to increase slowly in 2020, representing a potential opportunity for the industry.

• As consumers become more health conscious, they will demand more gluten-free, low-carbohydrate, whole grain, organic and paleo diet products.

• Social media and the Internet have become a core component of bakeries’ operating strategy, as they help build brand awareness, boost interactions with customers, and allow companies to monitor what people are saying about their products. 

DEMOGRAPHICS

• A report funded by the American Bakers Association and conducted by the Center for Generational Kinetics revealed that 78% of millennial and Generation Z consumers include carbohydrates in their regular diet, with 73% buying bread and 63% purchasing a sweet baked good in the previous week.

• Millennials also tend to be more active in breakfast and lunch occasions than older generations, which make them a vital group for retail bakeries whose primary business hours are during breakfast and lunch.

• Consumers in the 35 to 44 year old age bracket had the highest average annual household expenditures on all bakery products in 2016 with $424.00. 

• Consumers in the 45 to 54 year old bracket were close behind with $393.00 spent on bakery products. This is not surprising since these consumers are generally parents with high disposable incomes. 

• Consumers in the 55 to 64 year old age group were the only others to spend more on bakery products than the average household in 2016 ($373.25).

• Consumers with a family income of $100,000 and over had the highest average annual household expenditures on bakery products with $543.75 in 2016. 

• Consumers with a family income of $80,000 to $99,999 had the second most spending with $445.75. 

• Consumers with family incomes of $70,000 and above all had higher average annual household expenditures on bakery products compared to the average spending of all consumer units.

• White consumers had the highest average annual household expenditures on bakery products in 2016 with $373.50. Asian consumers followed with average spending of $346.50, while Hispanic consumers were close behind with average household expenditures of $344.50 on bakery products in 2016. Lastly, African American consumers spent the least with an average of $243.25 on bakery products in 2016.

• The average consumer in households with a husband, wife, and children overwhelmingly spent the most on bakery products in 2016 ($521.25). Consumers in households with just a husband and wife had the second highest average annual expenditures on bakery products with $379.75. Meanwhile, single parents had average annual household expenditures of $339.75, while single consumers only spent $252.25 on average.

Competitive Analysis

By looking at other local bakery cafes, strengths and weaknesses of each could be evaluated of both direct and indirect competitors. I researched other small, locally owned shops in Johnson County Kansas. I also evaluated nationwide chains in this area.

Provisional Personas

Based on demographic trends found during market research, provisional personas are created. Here, I’m able to evaluate how user goals and pains differ, based on populations that typically visit bakery cafes. This assists when recruiting participants for user interviews.

Primary Research

User Interviews

During secondary research, a larger picture of the bakery cafe industry was brought into view. With this in mind, I connected with existing customers of Park Street Pastry for the user interviews. This will help me understand the typical user: their goals, expectations, needs, and frustrations when visiting Park Street Pastry. All were asked questions about their experience at Park Street Pastry and regarding visits to bakery cafes in general.

Participants

• 4 female, 31 - 65 year of age

• 2 male, 31 - 71 years of age

• All residents of Olathe, KS

• All patrons of Park Street Pastry

Empathy Map

After all interviews were conducted every observation or quote was recorded onto a post it note. Initially organized by participant, they were then rearranged by patterns to determine insights from the user interviews.

Point-Of-View Statements

These statements help frame the user in the problem space.

How Might We Questions

Using the POV statement, I created these questions to further help identify the problems I am attempting to solve. The HMQ are also used to brainstorm as many solutions as possible.

 Project Goals

Now, I looked at how Nancy’s goals overlap with the business goals of Park Street Pastry. This helps identify some of the problems to solve. It also refocuses our solutions on supporting both the business and its users.

Site Map

Here, I created a potential layout of the information architecture of the website. This shows how the information will be organized, as well as the ways a user might navigate within it.

To make a working model of the website, I created a prototype in Figma. This allows users to accomplish the tasks outlined earlier. This is the version that was used during usability testing.

 Usability Test Plan

Just as we had a Research Plan in the Empathize phase, here we plan for Usability Testing to ensure we are measuring the right things. Included in our Usability Test Plan is the following:

• A script with non-leading language

• Test goals

• Test subjects

• Methodologies

• Test Completion Rate

• Error Free Rate

Read the entire Usability Test Plan

Test Participants:

• 5 Participants 

• Male and Female 

• Ages 25 - 71

• Customers of Park Street Pastry

Overall Results:

Completion Rate: 96%

Error Free Rate: 98.6%

View all of the findings

Affinity Map

Once the testing was recorded and completed, every observation or quote was put on its own post it note. Items that were similar were grouped together; each pattern yielded an insight. Recommendations were made for each insight. They were prioritized according to the time it would take, and level of importance.

 Priority Revisions

Based on the usability tests findings, I made updates. These should help mitigate any issues users frequently encountered.

Reflection

This project gave me a great opportunity to listen to the voices of customers and a small business owner. I was able to meet the goal of designing a responsive website with the community at Park Street Pastry in mind.

Next Steps

Always an iterative process!

• Usability testing of hi-fidelity prototype and priority revisions

• Implement online ordering feature as this becomes feasible to business and customer needs