Case Study : Starbucks 's Success

Within the coffee industry Starbucks Corporations has grown from a small shop to a leading coffee distributor, proving to have financial strength and determination to continue growth. With the weakening economy the continued success of Starbucks

Starbucks is dominant coffee brand in North America, which also is well-known worldwide. Established in 1971 as coffee shop oriented to a niche of coffee purists, in late 1980’s it turned to be a constantly growing chain of stores that sold whole-beans and premium-priced coffee to mostly affluent, well-educated customers. In years 1992-2002 company was showing at least 5% annual growth. And by 2002 Starbucks was serving already 20M customers in 5886 stores (both operated and licensed) around the globe, had $3.3 billion net revenues and was opening 3 new stores a day in average.

There idea of taking marketing to the next level with different drinks ideas other than hot beverages had marked their company as a growing trend. This first took off when they launched the Frappacino that has become a popular consumer demand. This was a risk in the company to take in1995 considering they were unsure how the public will react, which ended up to be a complete success. As well for starting making drinks that could be self made and pre-packaged drinks you could conveniently pick up at a local grocery store. These innovations help the american owner have the upper advantage that high-wage paying countries need in order to stay competitive. Starbucks company would be considered an innovative international company that provides the highest standards of coffee and espresso beans at the highest profitability rate in the coffee industry. Chief executive officer Shultz, produces a mission statement that provide the company with a vision; ““To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time.” This statement brings together different cultures and communities and intertwines them into one whole nation. This ties into the creation of a homogeneous marketing tactic which everyone is respected fairly. This has a criteria of developing global mindset. They have created their entrepreneurial idea of bringing in the european traditional coffee culture sit

Starbucks have 11.000 stores worldwide, and they serve more than 40 million customers each week and even with these enormous numbers Starbucks continues to grow. The reason Starbucks is still growing is that; people loves the products that Starbucks provide, but there is more to it,

Starbucks management announced its intention to double the number of retail stores and increase the number of customers to all stores. Starbucks had added 1672 stores during 2005. It continued to open new stores with 2199 openings in 2006 and 2571 openings in 2007. Earnings per share grew from 61 cents per share 87 cents per share over the period of 2005-2007. At the close of the 2007 fiscal year, the management was forecasting the opening of an additional 2500 stores in 2008.

Basically Starbucks faced three major risks at domestic region. On of which was saturated market condition (USA). Fifteen years ago they initially started with 17 coffee shops in Seattle and 5,689 outlets in 28 countries. Now, amazingly 4,247 stores scattered across the United State and Canada. In Seattle there is outlet for every 9,400 people. And the company considers that the upper limit of coffee shop saturation.

The company currently has more than 17,000 stores operating in 60 countries (nasdaq.com). They are allocated in high traffic areas; located in-store of various large chains, according with Starbucks the “store is named after the street it is located on”. Also there is a web page that can show The World-Wide Starbucks Map (see map 1), here you can find all the stores across the world, and even this map proves the Starbucks’ cannibalization (see map 2). http://www.loxcel.com/sbux

Starbucks—This $21 billion Seattle-based company sells has over 9,000 outlets world-wide. Selling everything from coffee to CDs, Starbucks is in the business of the “coffee experience,” and they’re always looking to partner with those companies that will best complement their customers’ desires for a high quality coffee drinking

Starbucks Coffee is showing product leadership by introducing new products in its coffee shops and now retail stores around the country. Partnering with the PepsiCo brand for Frappucino drinks and selling instant coffee in retails store such as Wal-Mart and

Also Starbucks currently has Number 1 share in coffeehouse market, where their brand valuing them at $4 billion. This tells that Starbucks has a strong brand reputation which is associated with quality of coffee they provide and excellent customer service. Its brand is the most valuable strength they have over the other competitors in market. Their financial status is also a strength they possess. Starbucks profitability has consistently been on the rise for the past 4 years and is now 14%. The company also outmatches its nearest competitors such as Peet’s Coffee and Tea, with 24.5% ROI. Starbucks also possess largest coffeehouse chain internationally. Starbucks manages around 20,000 coffeehouses in over 60 countries, making it the largest coffeehouse chain in the world. Starbucks employee benefits and care are one of the best in the world. The company offers its employees wide range of benefits regardless of their status, and has higher wage than most of its competitors.

For Starbucks, business is good. Starbucks continues to come up with more and more innovations and ways to market their products. Last year Starbucks started bottling their iced coffee and selling them as a new product lines in their stores, as well as many new sandwich choices. The ability to provide fresh new ideas year after year provides Starbucks with a growing customer base and a growing net gain. Starbucks will continue to come up with new ideas and products that will continue to bring in more customers to established stores and the means to build stores in new markets expanding their ability to generate revenue, their ability to innovate and market to different cultures globally. Starbucks ' ability to cut cost anywhere it can enables them to keep the money they use to operate at a minimum, leaving more of their revenue as profit. This allows Starbucks to expand and grow rapidly and increase their profitability greatly.

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

Starbucks started in 1971 and by creating a cozy third place to customers beyond home and work and offering a slightly higher price yet fine quality coffee, within 25 years, it had opened just over 1000 stores. In order to maintain its leadership position, Starbucks had continued pursuing growth opportunities by selling Starbucks products through mass distribution channels and expanding its retail footprint. Along with the rapid expansion and success, Starbucks has encountered financial downturn in 2008, and the rise of competitors from both high price independent coffee shops, smaller coffee chains that resembled pre-expansion Starbucks model, to low price fast food restaurants chain McDonald’s and Dunkin’s Donuts has deteriorate the

The company’s most successful innovation was 1995’s introduction of a coffee and non-coffee- based line of Frappuccino beverages

The company has a focus on innovation through an emphasis of introducing new products and coffees such as “instant coffee” Via which generated a large sales growth of over 200 million. These new products consistently help Starbucks evolve as a