Given the constant spread of capsule coffee, probably driven by the simplicity, convenience and speed of making coffee, it was decided to study this important sector.
In particular, the analysis focused on an Italian excellence in coffee import, processing and distribution, the Turin-based company: caffè Vergnano, which has been supplying Italy and beyond with various blends and types of coffee since 1882.

Starting from the Amazon world, we went to investigate the weight of ratings in terms of:

• evaluations issued after purchase by the user without review (1414 total evaluations);
• rewies i.e., an actual judgment of the product provided by the user through a written text with comments about it, on the overall evaluation of the product. A total of 495 reviews were analyzed within a time frame of 13/07/2017 to 04/11/2020.

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It is immediately noticeable that the buyer who is satisfied with the product “Vergnano,” is inclined to give a very positive evaluation without, however, going on to write the review; conversely, the less satisfied buyer dwells much more in expressing his perplexities about the product: in fact, the lowest level of satisfaction counts 73% of reviews.

We next looked at what topics are most discussed within the Amazon reviews regarding Vergnano coffee capsules.

Topics covered in the reviews: Vergnano and Sustainability

It is not surprising to see that the most discussed topic is related to two aspects of product quality ;quality in the sense of coffee goodness and quality in the sense of capsule workmanship and relative compatibility with coffee machines of other brands In second place in the ranking of the most talked about topics we clearly find price, as there are a variety of companies producing coffee capsules in the market, the topic of competition in terms of price is highly felt by consumers.. Much attention has been reported by buyers of Vergnano capsules to the topic of eco-sustainability (25.3% of the reviews refer to the topic), an issue very much felt by Vergnano itself, which since 2015 on many social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but also through radio and television commercials, has tried to convey the company’s attention to the topic of environmental sustainability by placing on the market and sponsoring the chain of 100% compostable and biodegradable capsules. In fact, on the Vergnano coffee website there is an entire section dedicated to both environmental and social sustainability, where several initiatives undertaken by the company are described, such as: “women in coffee”, “bio”, and “coffee terre alte.“

In the total 258 analyzed posts referring to the last year, 7.4 %(19 posts) refer to the theme of eco-sustainability and 10.9 % to made in Italy.

Price and quality

Going then to investigate the distribution of the “stars” assigned by each reviewer with respect to the topics covered, it can be seen that for the topics price and quality, the distribution of stars is quite similar and with a constant and increasing trend towards the top rating. In fact, one finds only 2% of the reviews in which price is mentioned that then associated only one star to the product while 63.8% gave the maximum number of stars, this stands to signify excellent economic competitiveness on Vergnano’s part. Consumers also seem quite satisfied with the quality aspect, attributing in fact only one star in 6.4% of cases and giving the maximum instead 60% of the time.

Reviews on “price”: evaluations released by buyers

Reviews on “quality”: the ratings released by buyers

Eco-sustainability

Slightly different, on the other hand, is the situation with regard to the eco-sustainability topic where we find a trend, although growing toward the maximum number of stars, no longer so constant and where the gap between those who gave 4 stars and those who gave 5 is not as evident as it was in previous cases. This confirms that the environmentally-conscious user is on average a more finicky person who is difficult to please fully.

Cit: “vergnano is a guarantee of quality. i hadn’t taken it for long because of the average higher price than other brands anyway available here on amazon (of comparable quality), but now that i found an unmissable offer i bought it. intense flavor good foam, excellent compatibility with nespresso machines (other manufacturers make indecent capsules). only flaw (and for this i take off one star) the incredible amount of plastic, as each wafer is packaged in a single bag. surely it serves to maintain the aroma but if nespresso doesn’t either, let’s try to avoid and safeguard the environment a little more.”

Reviews on “sustainability”: the ratings given by buyers

Shipping

The last aspect, which is perhaps, however, more related to Amazon itself than to Vergnano, is the whole sphere that concerns shipping, it is understood both as celerity and compliance with the delivery time indicated at the time of purchase, but also as the condition of the package itself at the time of delivery. On this issue, buyers do not seem to be extremely satisfied as shown in the following graph.

Cit: “the coffee is good only that the package arrived half-opened, as it was closed poorly by the shipping company, and there were 88 capsules inside instead of 100”

Reviews on “shipping”: ratings given by buyers

Distribution of stars by topic

Going into even more detail in the analysis regarding the reviews that turn their attention to the topic of eco-sustainability, it can be seen, as shown in the graph, that almost 21% of the “sustainable” reviews refer to the plastic present in the packaging.

Cit: “Vergnano coffee tastes good, no particular criticism of the quality of the product. i had purposely chosen to spend more than with other brands because Vergnano capsules are compostable. I was delivered 100 individually wrapped capsules in wrappers to be thrown in plastic when my choice was based on reducing the consumption of plastic. It seems inconsistent to me to leverage the ecological aspect of a product when you then use packaging that has very little ecological or sustainable about it…”

“Sustainability” reviews: how many talk about Plastic? And how do they talk about it?

In the reviews that mention plastic, in 69% of cases the aspect of over packaging is emphasized (18 total reviews), pointing out how each capsule is individually packaged with plastic wrap. The presence of this segment of consumers emphasizing the problem of plastic packaging may explain why the eco-conscious user is fussy and difficult to please. This turns out to be a controversial aspect because although environmentally conscious consumers are averse to the overuse of plastic, it is still recognized that plastic wrapping is recyclable in the appropriate containers and thus can avoid generating undifferentiated waste. In fact, 19.2% of the reviews where plastic is mentioned (5 reviews) consider the product to be perfectly eco-friendly because it is entirely separable (capsule in the wet, wrapper in the plastic, and package in the paper).

Cit: ”excellent alternative to the originals In fact… they are better for the simple reason that they have a totally biodegradable pod. so everything in the wet and zero non-disposable waste (see aluminum or plastic capsules). Good!!!”

This sharp distinction between those who argue that regardless of recyclability Vergnano capsules have too much plastic, and those who find them perfectly eco-friendly gives food for thought as to what is to be identified as truly and totally environmentally friendly and how much this topic remains very much subject to individual visions.

The last insight brought to the analysis concerns the issue of qualityin fact we went to analyze when we talk about quality related to coffee and when we instead refer to the quality of the capsules understood as their good workmanship and compatibility with coffee machines of other brands.

“Quality” reviews: how many talk about coffee? And how do they talk about it?

Regarding the mere quality of the coffee, which reflects the topic most discussed in the reviews, we note an undisputed appreciation of Vergnano coffee, which, thanks in part to the different coffee blends marketed, manages to please 83% of those who talk about the quality of the coffee. We then find 11.5% who express a neutral opinion about it (without infamy or praise) and only 5.5% who did not find the product to their liking. The latter portion, however, also includes those who found the quality of the coffee obtained to be poor due to the machine malfunctioning and failing to make good coffee with Vergnano pods.

“Quality” reviews: how many talk about capsule compatibility? And how do they talk about it?

The approval rates change when we instead go to talk about capsule compatibility and quality as such. On this occasion when talking about quality, 30% refer to the quality/compatibility of the capsules, and of these almost 70% (92 reviews) were pleasantly impressed. The remaining 30% (41 reviews), on the other hand, seem to have encountered problems, malfunctions, and other difficulties related to the workmanship of the capsules themselves. One of the arguments that have been encountered in this regard is the effectiveness and quality of the closing membrane of the capsules that used to be made of aluminum and then instead Vergnano replaced it with the same membrane made of paper in order to protect the environment.

Cit: “I start by saying that the taste is good and it produces a decent foam, moreover the capsules are compostable. unfortunately the problem is that one out of 3 does not work, the part of the cap that is often made of aluminum foil, has been replaced with a paper membrane, badly glued, which tends to detach and occlude the exit of the liquid resulting in the failure to brew the coffee and if you insist the dispersion of the same inside the espresso machine.”