Tim Horton’s Website Analysis

On October 25, 2010, I examined the website of Tim Hortons Company. I did this as part of my assignment for Business Communication course in University of Toronto Scarborough. The assignment requires students to compose a website analysis report of a business. And I chose Tim Hortons because it has always been one of my favorite coffee shops. This report describes the strengths and weaknesses of Tim Hortons’ website. And at the end of the report, you will find my personal recommendations on the points that could be improved. The report’s purpose is to help Tim Hortons establish a more customer-friendly website. I will explain more on the word â€Å"customer-friendly† through the following parts of the report. Strengths of the Website I am quite impressed by the design of Tim Hortons’ website. By simply looking at the theme colors when I first entered in, I am able to recognize the brand. These brown and red colors are what we commonly see in a local Tim Hortons store. The use of the colors makes the store and website an integral whole. Another thing that attracts me is the flashing banner. Those well-designed advertisement videos give customers a quick view of what is new at the store. They also lead to a better trade promotion. I compared the webpage of Tim Hortons with Starbucks and Second Cup’s. And I discovered that Tim Hortons has some competitive advantages over the other two famous coffee shops. Here are four most prominent ones: * An Offer of Healthier Products Options. Many customers today are not in favor of eating traditional donuts that contained large amount of fat and sugar. In order not to lose those customers, more healthier food options are offered on the website. In the online menu, customers can find one category named â€Å"Healthier Options†. By applying those options, customers may add milk instead of cream to their coffee. They may also choose bagels that are high in fiber instead of donuts. People who enjoy a healthy lifestyle will find Tim Hortons’ products appealing to them. Moreover, for customers’ convenience, there is a link to the â€Å"Nutrition Calculator† beside each category of food. By clicking the link, customers can quickly obtain further information on the products. * Clear Classification of the Products. The catalog appeared in the menu helps to arrange all productions into detailed classes. The arrangement makes the menu more organized and clearer to look at. Customers who want to look for a certain type of products will quickly find their targets. This is a demonstration of â€Å"customer-friendly† webpage. * The Idea of Weather Forecast. On the front page of the website, I discovered a window shown the weather forecast and the best product option to choose under this weather. I found this idea very attractive. The weather forecast transfers a message that Tim Hortons is very concerned about it’s customers. It deserves a brand loyalty. Besides, customers who are aware of this information may come to the website everyday to check the weather. This will result in a higher click rate to the website and more exposure to the advertisements. * Online Shopping Option. A link to the online shopping website is attached to the front page. Not only can customers find cans of grind coffee there, but they can also find gift baskets and other accessories available. This online shopping option will contribute to a larger sale of Tim Hortons coffee. Weaknesses of the Website On the other hand, I discovered some weaknesses of Tim Hortons’ website after compared with other coffee shops’. Speaking critically, there are certain places that could be made better. To demonstrate my findings, I listed four problems below: * Catalog is Not Clearly Indentified. Most customers come to Tim Hortons website to search for information on coffee and baked goods. However, the catalog shown on top of the front page does not include these two items. It takes some time for customers to find their desired information. Besides, all the menus and nutrition information are under the category of â€Å"In Our Store †. I personally think this title is inappropriate. Because â€Å"In Our Store† can mislead people to think about locations, staffs and other unrelated information. * Nutrition calculator is difficult to use. The idea of making a calculator to track calories is very creative. However, the calculator did not function well when I was using it, especially on a Mac computer. The button for â€Å"Detailed Information† is often hidden behind the product category list. This makes the button difficult to click on. Fonts are Too Small to Read. Except for the headlines, the font sizes for most of the written materials are too small. This will result in unwillingness for customers to go further reading. Though the storyboard tells a thrilling adventure, customers may have no interest to look at. * No Sounds for the Banner. Research shows that people’s retention becomes stronger when they can be provided with both visual images and sounds. Having a banner is absolutely a good promotion choice, but without any audio inputs, the advertisements are a bit lack of excitement and harder for customers to remember. Conclusions A website can be said to be â€Å"customer-friendly† if it is able to offer the most to its customers. For the design, the website should be attractive and fun to look at. And for the function, the company ought to focus on an idea of clarity, convenience and simplicity. Compared with the webpage of other famous coffee shops, Tim Hortons is good at making convenience accesses for its customers and delivering sales messages. This is demonstrated by its strengths of clear classification, option of online shopping and an offer of eather forecast and healthier options. Nevertheless, Tim Hortons is a bit weak at providing clear information. Because some titles of the catalog fail to transfer definite information and the fonts of the words are too small to read. Things can be improved also include the nutrition calculator and the sounds of the banner. Recommendations Competition between coffeehouses is quite fierce these days. Though Tim Hortons are most well known in Canada. It does not have such popularity in other countries, even in the United States. One of the accesses for people to gather information of Tim Hortons is through the Internet. Therefore, it is of top primarity for Tim Hortons to establish a more customer-friendly website. Here I provide four recommendations that will contribute to its success: * Change the Titles of the Catalog Categories. Make Category titles clearer to indentify. For example, name â€Å"Coffee† or â€Å"Menu† instead of â€Å"In Our Store†. Also, put the items customers most interested to prominent places. For example, modify the â€Å"Menu† button as the first icon appeared in the catalog at the front page. Improve the Nutrition calculator. If the technical problems cannot be solved, simply add a list of nutrition information containing all products to the website. It is also a good idea to provide a search engine for that information. * Make the Fonts Larger. Make the size of the fonts larger so that customers can easily read the information they are looking for. * Make Banner’s Alive. Deliver music commercials. Add more fun and excitement to the website. This will catch customers’ attention and result in a higher click rate of the website.