Case Study on the Failure of Starbucks in Australia Essay

With time the small industry of coffee has modernized into a multibillion dollar industry that surrounds the world. With the growth of the industry there has been many world wide changes. Over the past 30 years coffee shops have jumped to the front of the public culture. New coffee shops have changes the face of American cities along with British, German, Colombian, Kenyan and Indonesia towns to name few. (Coffee a comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverage, and the industry) Around the world coffee has become part of the daily culture and coffee shops have grown to accommodate the massive demand that people ask for. Without the growth of the industry there would be a shortage of the product and many would have to go without their beloved beverage. In the United States alone there has been a massive increase in the number of coffee shops. In 1980 the number of coffee shops was a year 2,000 and by 2008 there was an astonishing 27,715. (Coffee a comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverage, and the industry) This was an increase of over ten times in the short time. 11,000 of those stores, almost half, were Starbucks one of the biggest coffee brands in the worlds. The growth of Starbucks is due to the work of Howard Schultz a worker for the company before they became as massive as they are today. Starbucks started very small in Seattle, Washington in the mid 1970’s. Howard bought out the owners and then went on to turn the small company into a massive corporation. (Coffee a

When Starbucks first became a Public Traded Company in 1992, there were only 165 stores open at that time. The company set a goal for growing 125 stores per year and rapidly expanded until reaching 11,000 U.S. stores in 2008 (Starbucks website). When Starbucks first opened, it focused on the experiential. At its best, the coffee giant truly represented the ‘”third place” between home and work where a customer can chat with the barista, order a drink to his specification, then settle in for conversation, socializing, and relaxation (Wikipedia). People were not paying $3 per latte because it tasted that much better than Starbucks’ competitors. They were paying it because they could go into a Starbucks and get that European café feeling and then take the

Starbucks is one of the largest known coffee distributors within the United States. Their mission statement is “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time”. Their objective is to be one of the most well known and respected brands around the world. With 21,366 stores around the world, operating in 65 countries, they are a major company that has influence on the economy in the United States and around the world (Starbucks 2015).

Background information: Starbucks is one of the biggest chains of cafés on the planet with 22,551 stores in 66 nations and domains, incorporating 12,739 in the United States, 1,868 in China, 1,395 in Canada, 1,117 in Japan and 830 in the United Kingdom. It was established 44 years ago – March 30, 1971 in Seattle, Washington, United States by three partners Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, Gordon Bowker. The company entered global market after 25 years operations in domestic market in 1996 by opening store in Tokyo, Japan. Starbucks currently, serves hot, cold beverages and non-coffee items – sandwiches, deserts and CDs with their creation history all over the world. According to Wikipedia, in 2014, Company had more than 191,000 employees globally and theyt made revenue of $16,447 billion with 13 % net income.

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.

starbucks Corp., an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, has expanded rapidly since its opening in 1971. These outrageous success was due to its well-developed strategy vision which lay out the company's strategic course in developing and strengthening its business. Starbucks is a global corporation that sells authentic coffee in 30 countries, reporting revenues of nearly $5.1 billion in 2006. The main goal of Starbucks is to embrace diversity by applying the highest standards of excellence. Starbucks strives to perfect the relationship with the working class by making the service as fast as possible because they believe that every customer has their own personal rate. One

Starbucks is an American company that produces tea, coffee beverages, smoothies, baked goods and sandwiches. It was founded on March 30, 1971 in Seattle, Washington. The founders are Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegi and Gordon Bowker. Starbucks locations serve hot and cold drinks, whole-bean coffee, micro ground instant coffee called as VIA, Espresso, Caffe Latte and other tea productsStarbucks has more than 22000 retail

And in 2000 89% percent of Australians were aware of the of the Starbucks coffee shops, as Starbucks was on average selling twice the amount of coffee than any other coffee shops in Australia.

Starbucks coffee company is one of the most powerful American Corporations, it founded in 1971, inside a historic public market called Pike Place Market in Seattle Washington by three partners (lee, n.d). Starbucks company commenced with a small shop specializing in brewing products and providing high-quality coffee addition to teas, today it become a leading retailer of specialty beans, large variety coffee beverages, different pastries, and snacks, with approximately 24,000 stores in over 70 countries such as Belgium, Brazil, china, and Cyprus, and it is serving millions of costumers daily with unique product and premium prices (“Starbucks company profile,” n.d). The main international competitors of Starbucks are Costa the British coffee

With little to no previous research done on the Australian coffee culture, uneducated international chain management and the trying takeover of the Australian coffee industry Starbucks has seen the downfall in a large number of its Australian stores. With Starbucks doing little to no research before opening up its Australian stores, it stuck with its ‘American’ style coffeehouse and relied on its worldwide reputation to hold it a-float. When opening its Australian stores locals had rather go down the road for the local taste, rather than the foreign one. Starbuck’s inability and unwillingness to change its taste backfired and aided towards the stores downfall. By changing its taste to a local one, Starbucks could have flourished in the Australian

When Howard Schultz launched Starbucks, its main targets were the competitors and the customers. Schultz’s brand aimed at gaining dominance in the coffee industry in addition creating a Italian coffee shop feel in the United States (Buchanan & Simmons, 2009). The strategy of Starbucks was based on new products, listening to customers wants and ensure future expansion (Buchanan & Simmons, 2009). In creating convenience for customers, Starbucks created stores almost on top of eachother. They hinged on the idea that, they did not want to lose out on a sale if a line was too long. This action, of placing stores in heavy populated areas, basing need on projected growth of an area caused some decline in sales during economic trouble with the economy. The 2007 recession, failure of subprime mortgages, increased competition from McDonald 's McCafe brand, and Dunkin Doughnuts all led to a decline in sales for Starbucks in the fourth quarter of 2007 (Buchanan & Simmons, 2009). To attempt to regain market share and recover after the

Starbucks would then open up stores in trendier areas of a country, most likely geared toward a youthful image. In addition to these strategies Starbucks decided not to compromise on its basic principles of offering quality coffee of similar origins, and offering a non-smoking environment across the globe (Starbucks International Operations 5).

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

Starbucks faced various challenges in moving forward. The first of which was brand image and a lack of product differentiation. Customers often saw little or no difference between Starbucks and smaller coffee chains. Also, in a market research study it was found that more that half of customers felt, at an increasing rate from previous years, that Starbucks only cared about profit and expansion.