Tchibo's success story began in 1949 with the idea of a Hamburg merchant, Max Herz, to send coffee by mail with practical jars or kitchen cloths.
Tchibo quickly became the most consumed coffee brand in Germany. Over time, the house developed and grew with its decoration, fashion and sports collections. Today, Tchibo's first store, which has more than 1,000 stores worldwide, was opened in Hamburg in 1955. This was followed by 9 internet stores in European countries. Today Tchibo offers its customers a new collection every week.
Most people know Tchibo is a good brand of coffee. But Tchibo offers much more than just the best coffee flavor. The brand was founded in 1949 by Max Herz. The origin story of the brand is based on the idea of sending coffee to customers by mail. This story began in Hamburg, where Tchibo still has its headquarters today. The company, which initially sold coffee on order, has become a company that operates in much more business than traditional coffee distribution and is active in the international arena.
Tchibo has continuously expanded its product range and distribution channels over the years. It is now one of Germany's largest consumer goods and retail companies. Its stores can be found both in city centers as Tchibo's own stores and in shopping malls. Today, Tchibo's special shelves are also available in supermarkets in many countries. The brand has hundreds of branches in Germany and other countries. In addition, the brand also offers its products for sale on its website. Thus, it offers its customers the opportunity to shop online from the comfort of their homes.
What Did Tchibo Do Differently?
Tchibo, which stands out as a coffee brand, actually brings its creative and extraordinary products to its customers. Especially the wide product range makes Tchibo such a big company.
Through its multi-channel distribution system, Tchibo offers services such as non-food products, travel and mobile communications, the concept of which changes weekly, as well as coffee and single-serve Cafissimo and Qbo systems. It is known that the 2019 turnover of the brand is approximately 3.12 billion Euros.
Tchibo opened its first coffee shop in 1955. By 1958, the company's Gold Mocca brand was Germany's best-selling coffee. A long-running series of television commercials helped the brand maintain its momentum in the 1960s. In 1963, the company started to set up sales points in existing bakeries, which was the beginning of the "shop within the store" concept. Tchibo opened a new coffee roasting plant in Hamburg in 1964. Max Herz died the following year. Thereupon, the management of the company was taken over by his son, Guenter Herz.
A defining feature of the company's business model was that it offered a variety of consumer goods since the early 1970s. These consumer goods were updated every Wednesday on a weekly basis, and the interest of the customers was always tried to be kept fresh with the new concept. Among the products, there were many options from tennis rackets to underwear models. In most countries, Tchibo also sells mobile phones and airline tickets. The combination of coffee and affordable, quality non-food items makes customers choose the brand. Diversity in product lines helps the company navigate the ups and downs of the coffee and consumer goods markets.
Incorporating non-food products into its business model was one of the main reasons Tchibo was successful. Tchibo Café Service was founded in 1972 to supply the office and food service market. The company was finding new ways to connect with customers. One day, she included a popular cookbook among her products, and it sold 250,000 copies in a week. Tchibo soon switched to products such as watches and shirts.
The German coffee market shrank by a quarter in the early 1980s. At that time, Tchibo had 500 own stores and 8,000 independent bakeries selling their products. A fifth of sales at that time came from sports equipment, even surfboards and discount electronics. In short, general consumer goods contributed well to Tchibo's turnover.
Tchibo's range of coffee products has expanded especially since 1992. The company, which previously focused on whole beans, added vacuum-ground coffee to its products, and the move was an instant success. In the following periods, the product range has expanded continuously, especially coffee products. Thus, the brand continued to respond to every demand.
The brand's strategy to market its non-food products changed in the mid-1990s. From now on, about two dozen product lines organized around themes such as "Beach" or "Office" would be changed every week. The innovation accelerated customers' purchasing decisions, while keeping them coming back regularly.
Tchibo launched an aggressive acquisition strategy around 1996. In 1997 it took control of the rival Eduscho coffee group. Eduscho brought with it a number of facilities in Eastern Europe.
Tchibo was also becoming one of the early adopters of the internet as a sales channel for consumer goods alongside coffee. Within a few years, his site was established as Germany's second leading e-commerce address after www.amazon.de. The timely start of online sales contributed to the success of Tchibo.
Tchibo released a new home coffee maker in 2005. This machine, called the Cafissimo, was a single machine with different brewing methods. Then, an instant coffee called Dueccino was introduced. These new and high quality products were loved and appreciated by consumers.