ILLUSTRATION： ANALYSIS OF THE MEANINGS OF CONTEMPORARY COFFEE CONSUMPTIONIN AN ONLINE COFFEE COMMUNITY大学生毕业论文.docVIP

PAGE PAGE 12 ILLUSTRATION： ANALYSIS OF THE MEANINGS OF CONTEMPORARY COFFEE CONSUMPTIONIN AN ONLINE COFFEE COMMUNITY Applying Netnographic Methodology In the short section that follows, netnographyis illustrated as a marketing research method. Netnography is used to explore and analyze some of the meanings and symbol systems that surround contemporary coffee consumption (in particular, those surrounding espresso and Starbucks) for the posters to an online community that is dedicated to coffee-related discussion. Understanding and tracking these meanings and symbol systems are of considerable practical importance. As many marketers are aware, there have been tectonic shifts in the coffee market in the past decade. Major consumer packaged goods companies such as General Foods and Procter Gamble were apparently caught unaware by the Seattle coffeehouse trend that came to be personified by the “Starbucks invasion” that overtook boutique coffee shops and subsequently encroached on super- market aisles (see Pendergrast 1999; Schultz and Yang 1999). Starbucks simultaneously raised the consciousness of coffee connoisseurship, the demand for coffee shops, the sales of coffee-flavored ice cream and cold drinks, and the market price of a cup of coffee. An understanding of coffee meanings can be gleaned from a netnography of a dedicated coffee group. As with the membership of many online market-oriented communities, the members of this coffee group can be characterized as devoted, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and innovative. In their enthusiasm, knowledge, and experimentation with new forms of coffee consumption, they can provide information similar to that from “lead users,” the inventive consumers who are at the leading edge of significant new marketing trends (von Hippel 1986, 1988). Although some may be marginal or hard-core users, their creative ideas and insights should not be discounted as without value. By carefully evaluating their innovative ideas and by cross-val