Today’s activities included a walking tour and an immersive experience at Cafe Britt. While similar to the walking tour of Doka, this tour was much more entertaining and engaged us at a much higher level. This is mainly due to Cafe Britt’s dedication to marketing.

The tour started with two very enthusiastic guides who walked us through picking, sorting, and de-shelling the cherries into beans. However, Cafe Britt used professional actors as tour guides, making the tour enjoyable. Instead of only explaining the process, they also cracked jokes, engaged with the crowd, and put on a show. The enjoyment of the tours increases tourist interest, which leads to more tourists purchasing goods from Cafe Britt. This is simply one example of Cafe Britt’s use of marketing strategies to engage tourists and ticos alike.

Cafe Britt is likely more popular among tourists than local ticos due to their focus on international visitors. The tours are tourist-friendly and engaging, and Cafe Britt’s industry spans a large network. Cafe Britt has coffee shops in airports, restaurants, stores, street locations, and many tourist areas. On top of this, Cafe Britt’s most profitable product is its tourist merchandise. They spread their influence to chocolate, charcuterie, and, most importantly, retail. Since their marketing strategies are so influential to tourists, they have extreme success at selling tourist merchandise as well. Cafe Britt’s coffee is also less appealing to the locals because much of it is imported to the plantation. Locals would be more likely to drink coffee directly made within the country and also coffee marketed towards them, something Cafe Britt doesn’t do a lot of.

Cafe Britt is different from Doka in terms of supply chain since Doka coffee is sourced in Costa Rica and sold locally, even though much of their coffee is exported. However, Cafe Britt’s coffee is almost exclusively marketed outside the country and doesn’t compete much with Doka. We were also told that Cafe Britt sells in locations where there isn’t nearly as much competition, meaning that there isn’t overlap of competition between Doka and Cafe Britt as much.

As discussed, Cafe Britt’s marketing is extremely important to their international success. They take extreme care to ensure everything is marketed correctly to promote their businesses. Beyond the tours and opening locations with little to no competition, Cafe Britt also focuses on branding their packages by placing national landmarks on the package. Additionally, they keep a local sense of place, using regional ingredients depending on the location of their stores and plantations. For example, they use Peruvian coffee in Peru and Costa Rican coffee in Costa Rica. This creates a sense of authenticity that keeps customer loyalty. They do the same with their gift shops by integrating regional landmarks and nature themes. Finally, customer service is extremely important, providing them with a more personal marketing strategy.

I like their selling strategies very much. Cafe Britt keeps the buyer engaged and uses clever strategies to keep customers. For example, they gave out free samples today, encouraging me to buy chocolates. I even knew they were trying to do that, and I fell for it anyway. The only thing I would do differently is advertise more to the Tico community. The large home market drinks coffee, which could increase their profits and local credibility. However, I understand why they don’t since it disagrees with their marketing and selling method in places with low competition.