Who really
prefers us?
When an established Swedish café chain wanted to understand its position in a competitive market, internal assumptions were not enough. They needed an independent, quantified picture – and a clear strategic question to take a stand on.
Preference and Awareness Study
For an established Swedish café chain · Brand & competitor analysis
Challenge
The client operates in a market where a handful of chains compete for the same café-goers – and where the largest competitor has a clear lead in both awareness and first choice. The company wanted an independent, quantified answer to three questions that would form the basis for its future strategy:
- How strong is our spontaneous and aided awareness compared with the competition?
- Which drivers and value words actually carry weight when café-goers choose a chain?
- Which consumer segments actually prefer us – so that we can sharpen both our offering and our communications?
Without a shared fact base, there was a risk that future investments in concept, range and communications would be built on assumptions rather than a clear picture of how the market actually viewed the brand.
Solution
Alba designed a preference and awareness study in two stages. First, a questionnaire was developed in close dialogue with the client to ensure it covered brand values, drivers and actual visit patterns – and so that comparison questions from previous studies could be retained. The study was then conducted as a consumer panel with 1,008 café-goers aged 15 and above, split across 530 men, 490 women and 5 other, as well as all relevant age groups and locations.
Seven café chains were measured in parallel on the same questions, giving the client a direct and independent benchmark against the major competitors. The report delivered spontaneous and aided awareness per chain, a driver analysis (proximity, value for money, café environment, range and loyalty programme), a value-word analysis, categorised open-ended responses for both preference and associations, and a demographic analysis of exactly which consumer prefers the brand – together with concrete recommendations for how the insights could be translated into range, concept and communications decisions.
How we worked
Questionnaire in dialogue
In-depth interviews with the client's key stakeholders to ensure the right questions were asked – including comparison questions from previous studies.
Consumer panel, 1,008 responses
Broad panel aged 15 and above with representative distribution by gender, age and location – seven chains measured in the same wave.
Analysis & recommendations
Awareness, drivers, value words, associations and target group profile – delivered as a Management Summary with prioritised actions.
Results
The study gave the client clear decision support across three dimensions – not just numbers, but a quantified position, an identified strategic tension and a concrete area for improvement to direct investments towards.
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Market position – quantified. Spontaneous and aided awareness, consideration, actual visit share and first-choice share measured against six competitors in the same study. An objective baseline for future brand work.
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Strategic tension revealed. The most loyal segment of the customer base turned out to be one demographic group – while the most frequent café-going audience in the market was an entirely different one. A clear strategic question: defend the base or shift towards the growth segment?
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The lever identified. The driver analysis showed where efforts would have the greatest impact: a strong position on proximity, and a clearly identified area for improvement in the café environment. This provided concrete priorities for store concept, range and tone of voice in communications.
A shared fact base to make decisions from – not an assumption. With awareness, drivers and target audience quantified, the leadership team could take a clear stand on where to direct resources.
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