Introduction

Coffee shops have so many lessons for those of us who want to make a success online or, indeed, in bricks and mortar. They are usually small, the operation is simple and the whole set up easy to observe and make notes on.

Once again a visit to a local coffee shop stimulated thoughts of mistakes we fail to see when we set up our online stores and other services. Offline/online we consistently make the same mistakes. It was my own fault. I missed all the signs. I should have known better. There were few patrons (3 as I recall) at this shop when others nearby were bustling. It was in a great location on a beautiful sunny day; all reasons to expect people to be out and about enjoying a cup of coffee. We went into this particular shop because it was near a play area so my friends could supervise their children.

Experiencing customer service and business communication

Walking up to the counter and asking for coffee we were confronted with