Differentiation Strategy Of Starbucks

The “Coffee Wars – The Big Three: Starbucks, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts” article focuses on the company analysis of the Starbucks brand and how its main competitors, McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts, has affected their brand and driven competition higher. Even though there are many companies trying to enter the specialty coffee market, these three companies own the majority of the market share. With Starbucks’ top quality and above average prices they hold a different market than the fast coffee/food market of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks; yet the competitive moves Dunkin’ Donuts has made over the years in order to compete with Starbucks and surpass McDonald’s has driven competition up between all three companies. The competition has stiffened ever more in the past ten years due to the changing economy. This led to “the big three” to come up with different techniques to gain competitive advantage over the other. Although the competition between these companies is to gain most of the market share, consumers are still loyal to a certain brand; this makes it difficult to gain each other’s clientele. McDonald’s continues to appeal to customers who want value and speed, Dunkin’ Donuts focuses on the middle-class, while Starbucks a customer who desires a higher quality product along with being recognized for using the brand.

Founded in 1985, Starbucks is one of the largest coffeehouse companies in the world with over 16,000 stores in 50 countries. This report evaluates major internal and external factors affecting Starbucks using various analytical techniques. Based on the Starbucks brand in UK, it identifies suitable marketing strategies for Starbucks to expand its business in the UK market within the next two years. In line with the chosen marketing strategies, recommendations for the marketing mix are discussed.

Starbucks is globally known for not only their coffee but for the numerous amounts of stores and locations. The first Starbucks opened in 1971 in Seattle Washington’s Pikes Place Market. While small, the store had great flow of customers for their rich and fresh coffee flavors. One of those customers was Howard Shultz who enjoyed his experience very much. He liked it so much he came back in August of 1987 and purchased the store. Through the end the year he had opened up another sixteen locations on the west coast. In 1991 Starbucks opened their first licensed airport store at Seattle’s Sea-Tac International Airport. By the end of 1991 there were close to 116 stores in the United States. By 1998 Starbucks expanded their brand domestically through

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

It’s a known fact that Starbucks is one of the leading brand in the market.When we analyse the market we find that Mcdonald 's and Dunkin are the competitors in the same product segment. So comparing Starbucks with these competitors will throw light on its grey areas, process and competitive edge in the market.

The industry’s saturation is moderately high with a monopolistic competition structure. For new entrants, the initial investment is not significant as they can lease stores, equipment etc. at a moderate level of investment. At a localized level, small coffee shops can compete with the likes of Starbucks and Dunkin Brands because there are no switching costs for the consumers. Even though it’s a competitive industry, the possibility of new entrants to be successful in the industry is moderate. But this relatively easy entry into the market is usually countered by large incumbent brands identities like Starbucks who have achieved economies of scale by lowering cost, improved efficiency with a huge market share. There is a moderately high barrier for the new entrants as they differentiate themselves from Starbuck’s product quality, its prime real estate locations, and its store ecosystem ‘experience’. The incumbent firms like Starbucks have a larger scale and scope, yielding them a learning curve advantage and favourable access to raw material with the relationship they build with their suppliers. The expected retaliation from well-established companies for brand equity, resources, prime real estate locations and price competition are moderately high, which creates a moderate barrier to

Starbucks® has appealed by offering a mobile app which allows for ordering, tipping, and choosing the desired location of pickup (Starbucks Newsroom, 2014). Launched in Portland, Oregon, in 2014, plans were put in place to expand in 2015. The mobile ordering experience has been integrated into the already existing Starbucks mobile app, and My Starbucks Rewards® program. Continuing to utilize the expanding features of mobile possibilities, Starbucks® is growing with customer demand. Realizing the growing possibility of income from the use of the app, Starbucks has initiated a plan to expand the mobile app even more (Meola, 2016). In addition, sales through the mobile app has continued to grow, and, therefore, inspired the expansion of offerings through mobile communication. Studies have concluded that the use of the mobile app has become a core strategy for the business, and future growth for the Starbucks app will include recommendations to the customer for additional products. This writer considers the use of the mobile app to still be in the growing stages of the product life cycle. The maturity stage would indicate that the product has reached a peak (Solomon, Marshall, Stuart, 2012). However, not everyone has joined in the forces of utilizing the possibilities of the mobile app. Even though it would seem that most people have a cell phone, a select few only use the device for calling and texting. Therefore, the market is still growing and enticing new app

4.1 The first component in the framework is concerned with value creation. This component comprises of any elements of the new business model which offer value from the firm. Starbucks will create unique value through the creation of an improved customer experience, facilitated through a new interactive service. 4.2 The new service being offered consists of a new Starbucks mobile phone application, expanding on the existing app currently available in the States (see appendix 2). The new app will consist of a new and unique ordering process (see appendix 3), allowing consumers to find their nearest Starbucks store in a given radius, view the in store menu via their mobile phones, choose the beverages they wish to purchase, pay for the products through a secure card payment method and finally be given a waiting time and a progress update of their order to be collected. The aim of this new service is to enhance the customer experience that Starbucks customers currently feel could be improved upon with

1.Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.

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.

Nevertheless, this was not embraced until 1987 were he would come in with several local investors to purchased Starbucks and rebrand. What a better location than Chicago. In 1991 is where Starbucks took off and became the took the position to offer to its full and part time employees. They also were able to take the lead in the coffee world by offering their Frappuccino’s. They continued to do well that in 1995 they joined forces with Pepsi-Cola and offered their consumers a ready-to-drink Frappuccino that could be purchased through local grocery stores or convenient stores. Drinks in 1996. It was also in 1996 that Starbucks opened its first store outside of North America in Japan. The company acquired Tazo Tea Company in 1998, and collaborated with Conservation International in 1999, to promote environmentally responsible methods for growing coffee. Starbucks has continued to grow over the years, launching its VIA™ Ready Brew coffee in 2009 (Starbucks Timeline, 2010). They have continue to work aggressively to serve the public as of today Starbucks has more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries, and have taken their name to be known as the world’s premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee (Starbucks Heritage, 2010).

Starbucks’ story began in 1971 with a single outlet in Seattle, USA. From the onset, Starbucks set out to be pioneer in coffee industry and it offered one of the finest roasted coffee beans. Now, Starbucks operates in 67 countries and has opened over 22,000 stores. Currently, it is the largest coffeehouse chain in the world. It is estimated to have an operating income of $3 billion and employees around 191,000 people around the world. (Starbucks Company Profile | Starbucks Coffee Company, n.d.)

The Starbucks Company is a purveyor of gourmet coffee that was founded in 1971 at Seattle’s Pike Place Market (Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information). At that time Starbucks was a single storefront that offered premium, fresh roasted whole bean coffees. Since opening that single store Starbucks has grown to an international presence with branding that is recognizable worldwide. In addition, Starbucks has increased their product line beyond hot and cold coffee beverages to include hot and cold teas, packaged whole bean and ground coffees, high quality, fresh foods and coffee making equipment and supplies. Starbucks operates a total of 19,767 company operated and licensed stores and operates in 62 countries. In addition to the Starbucks’ brand the company also owns and operates other well-known brands such as Teavana and Seattle’s Best Coffee. (Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://news.starbucks.com/uploads/documents/Starbucks_Fiscal_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.PDF)

Starbucks first opened its doors in Seattle’s Pike Place Market with the name being coined from that of Moby Dick’s first mate (Schultz & Yang 1999). It has spread its shops across North America, all over Europe, the Middle East, Latin America as well as the Pacific Rim with an estimated 35 million customer weekly (Michelli, 2008). With tremendous growth from a small time coffee shop, the company has matured to an international icon that today it is one of the world’s leading retailer, roaster and brand specialty coffee (Story, 1971). The company offers whole bean coffees, espresso beverages, and confectionery and bakery items.

These days Starbucks owns more than 18,000 stores in 62 countries and is the premier roaster and retailer of exclusive coffee in the world. Back in 1971, when the first Starbucks opened, the company already had two intentions to give to people every single day till now: share specialty coffee with friends and help to make the world a little better.