To reach this objective, the responsible e-commerce team possesses various communication channels with which coffee products may be promoted in accordance with the coffee strategy defined by the marketing department. Although the strategy is already given, it does not include specific directives for the use of all communication channels. Therefore, an adaption of the planning is required to ensure a coherent overall communication and to attain the initial goal of increased online sales of coffee products.

This bachelor thesis aims at analysing the performance-oriented communication channels of the firm to establish practical recommendations for a potential increase of coffee sales via the online distribution channel. Moreover, the implementation of new channels is examined as technological advances offer new and efficient possibilities to reach customers with targeted messages. In a first step, the environment in which the client operates has been analysed in order to give a first impression of the challenges that have to be properly addressed by all market participants. Afterwards, the marketing tools of the e-commerce team have been assessed in a subsequent step. To analyse the functionalities and uses of the different communication channels, mainly secondary data was used. The theoretical representations are complemented with practical insights from the firm’s e-commerce team to appraise all relevant aspects for the thesis.

After having analysed the current situation, it has been acknowledged that there is room for improvement. Even though the e-commerce team already implements the coffee assortment in many channels, these efforts could be increased to reach the set objective. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for the inclusion and placement of coffee-related advertising material on the one side and for the implementation of new channels on the other. For instance, the author recommends that coffee teasers and respective product banners should be included in a more prominent position on the homepage of the company’s website. The same logic applies to newsletters where the coffee topic is usually integrated in the lower part of the e-mail body. Furthermore, the e-commerce department should consider increasing investments in display advertising and affiliate marketing to promote the coffee assortment more strongly. In addition to that, messaging apps such as WhatsApp should be tested for implementation as this new channel could serve as an alternative to newsletters. Other recommendations regarding content, in particular the sustainability aspect, are given because this topic seems to have a high relevance to consumers according to the research of this thesis. Finally, by considering the demand for a more sustainable conduct of business, an outlook for future research with respect to the packaging policy of coffee products is proposed.