Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Starbucks target market case study
Starbucks target market case study
Challenges facing starbucks company
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Starbucks target market case study
Starbucks entered its twenty-sixth year as the uncontested leader of the gourmet coffee market. The company had already experienced incredible growth, with sales approaching $700 million in 1996, and Schultz had plans to continue expanding, opening almost 900 new stores over the next several years. But the coming years would undoubtedly prove challenging. Competitors like The Second Cup, Seattle's Best Coffee, and Barnie's had expansion plans of their own. And many companies imitated Schultz's formula for success with the hope of beating Starbucks at its own game. The Starbucks marketing team had to be savvy to stay on top. The team began by extensively researching both competitors' and Starbucks' stores. They brought in hidden cameras to document how well the employees knew their coffee, and they asked customers how they felt about the products, atmosphere, service, and coffee. The insights they gained became the foundation of their strategy. As with all good marketing strategies, the heart of the plan was a vision of how they wanted to position Starbucks in the coffee market. In addition to remaining the quality leader, they wanted Starbucks stores to appear more like local cafes than a national chain and more like a sanctuary from daily stresses than just a take-out coffee store. Other goals included boosting stagnant sales in older stores, establishing a central focus for all Starbucks products, and developing national advertising that would convey a consistent image. Achieving these objectives required making changes in products, distribution, and promotion.' Over the years, Starbucks core products, coffee beans and beverages, had already undergone changes to meet customer preferences. But some merchandise, such as mugs and coffee makers, had been left untouched. Now new merchandise was planned for all stores. In addition, new food items were offered to attract customers throughout the day (because half the day's sales were typically made during the morning hours)。 New products were targeted for grocery store distribution, including cold coffee drinks and ice cream novelties. However, the company was adamant about maintaining its identity through strict product standards. If a product wasn't fundamentally related to coffee and to Starbucks' core values, it wouldn't carry the Starbucks logo. The retail distribution strategy had to address additional challenges. To combat the fears of certain communities about losing their uniqueness, Starbucks began designing new stores to reflect local cultures. For example, a store in Seattle's upscale Queen Anne neighborhood has a fireplace and large chairs that invite customers to linger and relax.
CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, originally had the idea that Starbucks would have the community/traditional feel in their stores, and still serve high-quality coffee (“Our Heritage” 1). Adding an Italian vibe to the coffee shops, keeping its traditional logo, which is based on a mythical creature, and advertising some of its products in a more “traditional” style accomplished the first goal. For an example, Starbucks recently created a commercial about their Refreshers, which was about cooling someone down in the summer time, with the scenery of Tuscany in the background. Serving high-quality coffee was obtained by ordering coffee beans from where they naturally grow and giving it a perfect roast to give to a customer. It was a marketing strategy that helped Starbucks grow and transform its commodity chain to support gathering more raw materials for a cheaper and more efficient way.
In 2002, unexpected findings of a market research showed problems regarding customer satisfaction and brand meaning for Starbucks customers. The situation was unacceptable for a company whose overall objective is to build the most recognized and respected brand in the world. Starbucks was supposed to represent a new and different place where any man would relax and enjoy quality time, alone or with others. But the market research showed that in the mind of the consumers, Starbucks brand is viewed as corporative, trying to expand endlessly and looking to make lots of money. This huge gap between customers' perception and Starbucks' values and goals called for immediate action.
The structure of Starbucks business communication is exceptional. Rather you are in their store buying a Caramel Frappuccino®, visiting their website or watching one of their advertisements on television; as the consumer, the message is loud and clear. Pick up any newspaper and you are likely to find an article about the coffee giant. Starbucks pledges a commitment to their over 172,000 partners (employees) and the community. “We realize our people are the cornerstone of our success, and we know that their ideas, commitment and connection to our customers are truly the essential elements in the Starbucks Experience” (Starbucks, 2008).
Emphasis on quality, Starbucks Experience, brand image, and important suppliers to dispute lower price contributions to competitors hence increasing profits
The importance of economic indicators to the strategic planning process in any organization is the ability to benchmark economic conditions that contribute to improve profitability, business growth and market size. Leadership sets up the mission “to establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world.” In doing so, they have created a set of industry-leading, comprehensive coffee-buying guidelines addressing coffee quality, financial transparency, social and environmental responsibility. Starbucks strategy is also expanding market in globally to provide high quality coffee in convenient and visibility locations. They are continuing to innovate and extend the business with imaginative new ready-to-drink beverages and expanded packaged coffee offerings (Starbucks Corporation, 2007).
Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice opened its first store in April 1971 in the Pike Place Market in Seattle, by owners who had a passion for dark-roasted coffee that was popular in Europe, but hard to find in the U.S. (Harrison et al., 2005; Venkatraman & Nelson, 2008). The company’s mission was to provide Seattle with the best access to dark-roasted coffee, and sought to educated customers about the product. As a matter of customer education and acceptance of the product, Starbucks grew and expanded into the successful domestic market it is today. Much of this success can be attributed to a focus on the total customer experience and s...
Starbucks is currently the industry leader in specialty coffee. They purchased more high quality coffee beans than anyone else in the world and keep in good standings with the producers to ensure they get the best beans. Getting the best beans is only the first part, Starbucks also has a “closed loop system” that protects the beans from oxygen immediately after roasting to the time of packaging. They did this through their invention of a one-way valve which let the natural gasses escape but keeping oxygen out. This gave them the unique ability to ensure freshness and extended the shelf life to 26 weeks. Starbucks isn’t only about the coffee, it’s also about a place where people can escape to enjoy music, reflect, read, or just chat. It is a total coffee experience. The retail outlet has been responsible for much of Starbucks growth and has contributed substantially to their brand equity.
One of the main problems that Starbucks is facing at the present time is the ability to maintain national competitive advantage (Monash South Africa, 2014). Due to their local demand conditions, Starbucks tries to satisfy all customers by trying “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time” (Starbucks Corporation, 2014). Local demand conditons consist of a company trying satisfy needs of their closest customers and expanding their competitive advantage by upgrading their strategic management policies (Monash South Africa, 2014).
Starbucks is a worldwide company, known for is delicious brews of coffee and seasonal varieties of tasty drinks for any occasion. Starbucks opened with two main goals, sharing great coffee with friends and to help make the world a little better. It originated in the historic Pike Place Market of Seattle, Washington in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. The creation of Starbucks’ name came from the seafaring tradition of early coffee traders and the romance evoked from Moby Dick. At the time, this individual shop specialized in the towering quality of coffee over competitors and other brewing services enabling its growth to becoming the largest coffee chain in Washington with numerous locations. In the early 1980s, the current CEO Schultz saw an opportunity for growth in the niche market. After a trip to Italy he brought back the idea of a café style environment of leisure and social meetings to the United States we now see in Starbucks locations today. Schultz ultimately left Starbucks to open his own coffee shop, Il Giornale which turned out to be a tremendous success. Fast forward a year later, Schultz got wind that Starbucks was going to sell all their components of Starbucks including their stores and factories, he immediately acquired the funds to buy Starbucks and linked both operations. Within five years he was able to open more than 125 stores starting in New England, Boston, Chicago, and gradually entered California. He wanted Starbucks to be a franchise system based on the mission of telling the truth and emphasize the quality,
These are but a few of the many strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that the Starbucks company may face. This is why a marketing team along with data and analytics is essential to comprising a new product. It requires research, innovation, hard work, and a little luck, the Starbucks Brand is more than just coffee. It’s a simple yet detailed product tailored to meet the consumers need at home, at work, and in between. (Starbucks Corporation,
Starbucks is an international coffee house and it was created in 1971 when they opened the first store in Seattle, Newcastle. Currently, they own 21,000 stores in 65 different countries of the world, and their passion for the great coffee, excellent service and community interaction exceeds cultures and languages (Starbucks, 2014). This company is the number 1 brand coffeehouse chain in the world due to the best roaster, marketer and seller of speciality coffee. Its main slogan: “Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time” (Jurevicius, 2013).
In addition to being best-known supplier of the finest coffee and promising only the highest quality products, Starbucks emphasizes firm values, provides guidelines to enhance employee self-esteem. This is to ensure continued customer satisfaction. Moreover, diversity has become a priority to providing an inviting environment to all consumers. Starbucks continues to abide by a strict, slow growth policy in which they set out to dominate a market before moving on to expand, thus history has shown this strategy to be successful for Starbucks, making them one the fastest growing companies nationwide.
With clear core values towards providing quality coffee, the best service, and atmosphere, Starbucks has enjoyed great success since it was founded 30 years ago. The company has being doing very well for last 11 years with 5% or more store sales increase, even with the rest economy still reeling from the post-9/11 recession. However recent research, conducted to Starbucks, have showed some concerns regarding company’s problem meeting customers’ expectations.
The strategic vision that Howard Schultz had for Starbucks was "Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow". This s...
According to the Seattle Business Wire (as sited in Starbucks Coffee Company, 2015), the president and CEO of Starbucks, revealed to shareholders a vision for transforming the operation of his company in 2008 which involve the customer experience and reaffirm the company’s growth potential. He revealed that a five initiative strategy that he is directing the company towards will bring the company to a new level of quality (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2015).