Coffee drinkers help guide the future of car buying

The coffee shop initiative reflects the company’s agile way of working, it says, and was developed because of the way the UK has embraced café culture over the past 20 years.

It also adapts to the way in which traditional technology and services sit alongside the consumer’s desire for speed, ease, choice and self-selection, while taking into consideration the views and experiences of a broad cross-section of the community.

Alessandro Molinaro, Codeweavers head of user experience, said: “The process is proving to be remarkably insightful.

“Short of time and free of the car buying or focus group type thinking, we are gaining some very candid and useful insights about car buying motivators, tools and processes that customers would value and those which they find frustrating.

“We found a significant gap between industry and users’ expectations, and by using a human-centred design approach we can shape products that can satisfy both industry and user needs.”

As well as consumer feedback, the UX team have gained first-hand insights into a customer-facing environment, its peaks and troughs of activity and the importance of speed, stylish delivery, customer care and different ways to manage customer satisfaction issues.

Sales director Shaun Harris said: “This is a great exercise for all of us. It is so easy to be locked into your own role and business and overlook the challenges and experiences people face every day.

“Yes, we have some great minds and we want to keep the team focused on the future, but we do need to keep our thinking grounded in a way that will add extra value to dealers and consumers.

This means helping to make car buying and financing easier, more personalised and more enjoyable.”

Codeweavers specialises in finance sales technology and has supplied specialist software products to the automotive sector for more than 15 years.