1.1 PurposeThis paper will get an insight view of Fama Café’s customer needs and problems to determine howintegrating mobile commerce into the ordering process would improve customer service. Thissituation will be approached by exploring the Lean UX model.This research proposal will:• Start with a background of the research problem• Outline the management problem, the research question and the objectives of the researchproject• Provide an overview of literature regarding mobile technology trends in general and in thecoffee industry• Explain the research design and methodology to be used• Present the budget and schedule to be analysed and followed for the accomplishment of theresearch1.2 ScopeResearch proposal to determine if Implementing mobile commerce technology into the orderingprocess at Fama Café would improve customer experience1.3 Limitations• The findings will be determined by qualitative information. The interpretation of thesefindings will be judgemental• Exploratory research does not intend to provide conclusive evidence from which to determinea particular course of actionLuisa Lopez BUS703 22. BackgroundFama Café has been a cafe in Brisbane since 2016. The quality of the coffee and the customer servicehave been drivers for the fast growth of the café. The café’ trading hours are Monday to Friday from6:00 am to 3:00 pm. Fama Café has three group machines that can produce up to 360 coffees perhour, employing two baristas behind the machine to make shots and milk. Fama Café can meet thecurrent demand for the equipment in place. However, it is running at its capacity. The machine wouldneed to be upgraded to increase coffees per hour produced and this way accommodate more traffic.Moreover, Fama Cafe’s strategic location means for the coffee shop having many regular and loyalcustomers. Fama café is in the heart of Brisbane, on the ground level of a commercial building of 11floors (G1B/154 Melbourne Street).The fast growth of cafes and Coffee Shops has contributed to high competition from other cafes in thearea. In the past five years, the industry has grown sharply, from 2012 to 2017 at seven percent.“Australia’s coffee culture and the growing number of speciality cafes and coffee shops havecontributed to high industry competition, low barriers to entry and low industry concentration”(IBISWorld 2017, p. 4). Local coffee drinkers have several options to purchase a cup of coffee eitherfor dine in or take away. The manager and the staff members have observed a steady patronage from9:00 am to 11:00 am. Some regular customers do not have the time to line up and wait for a coffeeand choose to go to another place, resulting in a loss of business for Fama Cafe. The manager is lookingfor alternatives where the service would be more efficient to maintain the current base of customers,and take the business share from rivalling cafes in the area.2.1 Problem definition2.1.1 Management ProblemThe decision that this research proposal will assist with is:• How would Fama Café improve customer experience by integrating technology into theordering process?• Will Fama Café invest in another coffee machine if the demand increases d
ue to the technologyintegration?2.1.2 Research QuestionThe management issue to solve based on the management problem is:• How integrating mobile technology into the ordering process at Fama Café would improvecustomer experience and retain coffee customers?2.1.3 ObjectivesThe specific information required to address the research question is outlined in the followingobjectives:1. Determine trends regarding mobile commerce technology that could be relevant to thepurchasing of coffee2. Understand coffee drinker’s consumption, purchasing behaviour and associated problems3. Propose what would be an attraction for coffee drinkers to sway their purchasing behaviour4. Determine consumers use of mobile technology for ordering and payment purpose5. Determine competitors offers of mobile technology for ordering and payment systemsLuisa Lopez BUS703 33. Overview of literatureMobile commerce trendsMobile commerce (m-commerce) has been rapidly increasing around the world since thedevelopment and adoption of new smartphone devices in 2006-2007, such as Blackberry, iPhone,Windows and Android (Marriott et al. 2017). Mobile devices are replacing desktops and laptopcomputers. Mobile technologies offer people the internet in their pocket; consumer possibilities usinga mobile device are endless, including banking, buying tickets, shopping and real-time news (Barnes2001). One of the definitions for m-commerce is: “The use of wireless technology, particularlyhandheld mobile devices and mobile Internet, to facilitate transaction, information search and usertask performance in consumer, business-to-business, and intra-enterprise communications.” (Chan etal. 2002, p. 187-199). Barnes (2001) stated that m-commerce is “Any transaction with a monetaryvalue either direct or indirect that is conducted over a wireless telecommunication”. Already, mobiletransactions have injected growth in the forecast for future revenues, in 2018 m-commerce salesthrough smartphones are expected to be 74 billion in the United States (Levien 2014)The use of mobile devices has become increasingly popular in the society. In 2018 Australia will havearound 15.1 million smartphone users (eMarketer 2014). Mobile influence will keep growing drivenby the mobile adoption of new customers, fewer barriers in the market and new mobile technologies.Consumers are adopting other ways to purchase goods and services compared with the 1900s whereshoppers were looking for a functional or economic benefit from the products (Zhang 2017). Thetraditional Point of sale (POS) where the transaction between customer and retail occurs in-storethrough a typical system as a cash register does not provide the functionality that drives consumersnowadays (Accenture 2014). Mobile point of sale (mPOS) applications integrate many services thatdrive consumers to adopt new technology to their purchasing decision. Forty-three of retailersshowed to use and operate an e-commerce platform in The United States, The United Kingdom, Franceand Germany (Accenture 2014). Some of the motivations for consumers using mobile payments are“Reward points, discounts at purchase and faster checkout” (Traditional POS Systems vs Mobile Startups,n.p.)