Cummings Coffee vs. Starbucks

February 6, 2012 at 11:00 am · Filed under Bi-Weekly Review, Spring 2012 Section A, Student Work and tagged: "Brock Switzer", "Intro to Web", Coffee

Cummings Coffee is a small company with two locations in Butler, PA while Starbucks is one of the largest and most recognized coffee companies in the world.  Obviously you would expect their websites to show the disparity between their market sizes.  Surprisingly, however, Cummings manages to hold its own with a simple but charming website.

The Cummings Coffee website is very simple.  There is a photo in the center, a logo in the top left corner and a list of five navigation options in order on the left.  The site isn’t meant to be big and flashy much as the company itself.  Cummings has a mission of producing old school coffee and ice cream as well as an assortment of in-house-made chocolate confections.  Their website reflects the size of the company but still provides all the information you need.  The homepage also features links to maps and directions as to how to get to the two locations available.  Having directions on the homepage allows customers to find the address quickly without having to dig through layers of web pages to reach how to actually get to the physical locations.

Cummings Coffee also features a very well designed “about” section on their page.  Within the section is simple information about the company today but a customer can also scroll through the history of the coffee shop and a gallery of photos both new and old.  This section gives a good feel, yet again, as to what this company is all about.  They are proud of their long history and are looking forward to a bright future.

Starbucks coffee is one of the largest coffee companies in the world.  There are very few people, at least in the USA, who aren’t familiar with their mermaid logo, their concept of high class coffee and the feeling that they evoke.  The site is quite busy and confusing despite their lack-luster color pallet and layout.  At the top of the page there are six main navigation buttons with no less then 20 more options in drop down menus when the main options are scrolled over.  The sites body contains a rather large video surrounded with at least 20 more navigation choices and yet another 20 at the bottom of the page.

When looking through the links it is easy to get distracted and in some way discouraged.  While looking for a way to find a store location on the website I clicked on the main navigation labeled “Coffeehouse” thinking this would lead to store locations.  I was disappointed to find that it didn’t.  Instead the link to store locations is in a very small navigation link in the very bottom of the left side of the page.  Obviously Starbucks cannot offer the same method as Cummings.  Starbucks has thousands of locations but this information seems important enough to warrant a space that is easier to find.

Comparing Cummings Coffee to Starbucks seems like trying to compare a beat up old car to a brand new model but there are somethings that even that old car has that the new model only attempts to mimic.  Cummings Coffee’s website is simple and easy to navigate but they have less information to impart as well.  Still, it is difficult to look at a website with a simple elegance and not fall for it.  Cummings Coffee holds a small town charm that is reflected in their clean and easy to navigate website while Starbucks overwhelms the sense and makes navigating and finding specific information incredibly difficult.  In a battle like David vs. Goliath, the small guy wins again.

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