Entrepreneurship

Tchibo Ideas

Tchibo Ideas

Introduction

Tchibo Ideas, the family business, was started by Carl Tchilling and Max Herz in 1949. The name of the company was derived from the first name of Mr. Carl Tchilling and was combined with bohne, which is the German word used for beans. The business was based on selling coffee beans to the customers after the Second World War when the coffee beans were in high demand. The marketing strategy to sell the coffee products that Mr. Carl and Mr. Max chose initially was to sell them by mail order. They started the innovative marketing technique of coffee subscriptions to the customers. After this the entrepreneurs introduced their first shop selling coffee products to the customers in 1955 and in a period of only 5 years the entrepreneurs were able to be operating with a total of 77 retail stores selling their coffee products to the customers. Their product “Gold Mocca” was the most selling brand at that time in Germany of the business. Then the entrepreneurs started to introduce new marketing techniques to market their products which included free mugs and cups of Tchibo to the customers who visited the retail stores to purchase coffee (Tchibo, 2010). The marketing technique proved to be so successful that Tchibo was able to attract a significant number of customers who came to avail the offer. After this Tchibo also introduced the a three model business which involved the sale of coffee beans, products and other items such as cups and mugs in its retail stores. After 1987 Tchibo started to market its products in other retail stores and supermarkets and later Tchibo also developed its online website which was used to market the products of Tchibo online. The company then started to diversify its business by investing in other products like the banking and financial services, cellular technological services and ecological products which was name Tchibo Energy. Hence, Tchibo diversified its business into three main industries which consisted of food products, non-food items and services and ensured the availability of its products on its websites as well as its retail stores (Tchibo, n.d).

Literature Review

The family business which began with only direct mailing a single product which was coffee beans has now expanded into a company that is engaged in almost three industries and has developed long term plans for the sustainability and growth of the business. In 2006 Tchibo developed its corporate culture and policy to serve for its long term growth and strategy. The strategy of Tchibo focuses on being responsible for its actions in the long term and is based on the idea that Tchibo has the operational advantage to change the way the coffee industry was operating. Tchibo focused on changing the way that the coffee beans are cultivated and processed to make coffee. Tchibo is therefore committed to work with its employees and business partners to attain its long term goals and strategies (Tchibo, 2011, p. 3).

Tchibo has it included in its strategy to be ...