Marketing Analysis : Starbucks ' Brand Equity

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.

The survey questions mostly consisted of multiple choice questions, two open-ended questions, allowing written responses, and one qualitative response question. These questions were chosen to establish consumers differences and comparative perspective of Starbuck’s competitors, their daily usage of the social media platforms, the coffee shops visited frequently, and their opinions on consumers who frequent Starbucks. The survey contains one matrix/rating scale question ( Appendix I, Question 5) based on how important qualities are when choosing a coffee shop. Lastly, there were two demographic questions. The demographic questions are for a general understanding on consumers behavior based on age group and gender. For an overview of the survey, see appendix I.

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 has created a competitive advantage with their product quality by setting themselves apart from their competitors. “The Company has stayed with the upper-scale of the coffee market, competing on comfort rather than convenience, which is the case with its closest competitors, McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts” (Mourdoukoutas, Panos). Consumers believe they are receiving a better product and experience when they purchase from a Starbucks as opposed to another large food service company that may sell coffee.

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.

Starbucks will be the first come in your mind when you want to have a cup of coffee. Don’t you feel curious about why is Starbucks so successful? This report explains how Starbucks take advantage in consumer purchase decision making process, how does Starbucks attract customer, how does Starbucks segment its market and new trends in society affect purchasing process.

Starbucks customers are diverse, well educated, young business people looking for a quick and easy way to grab coffee on their way to work. Starbucks values a strong relationship with their customers so they are

Starbucks’ lead in the specialty coffee industry exemplifies the result of deftly executing a well-planned business strategy. Moreover, Starbucks is well positioned for what is expected to be a continuing rise in the popularity of specialty coffee products. The question before Starbucks’ leadership, however, is what avenues will lead to Starbucks’ goal of remaining true to its core, the highest quality coffee products while providing a “total coffee experience” for its customers?

Starbucks is undoubtedly an international brand. The history of coffee traces back to Ethiopia, Africa, India, Arabia, and Europe, and has been traded abroad since the 11th century. Understanding the demand and widespread market for coffee, Starbucks has triumphantly capitalized both the domestic market, and the varied international markets as well. Possessing about 6,500 retail sites worldwide, Starbucks’ net is spread across thirty countries and has been found as one of the most recognized brands all over the globe in equality to McDonalds and Toyota. This organization’s ability to build an international brand has been unprecedented- particularly since it represents a specialty

Customers: The demographics of a usual Starbucks consumer have altered extremely in the new years. In the Starbucks case documents innovative consumers of Starbucks are younger, a smaller amount knowledgeable, low pay, less frequent visited to the coffeehouse and had very dissimilar insights. The general outlook of Starbucks is very short on 25% by novel consumers while the consistent consumers stood in 44%.Although numerous features subjective customer satisfaction, generally service and quickness of service were recognized as the greatest significant; a rapid glimpse at Starbucks 's fresh customer satisfaction reveals that consumers did in

However, data from the market research team has shown that there is a shift on Starbucks’ brand recognition in customers’

Exhibit 8 shows customer retention information. We can find from this data, that established customers and new customers are quite different in respect of education, income and attitudes toward Starbucks. According to the exhibit, customers who first visited Starbucks five years ago have higher degree of education and higher income level. Beside that, new Starbucks customers do not see it as a brand of high value, while established customers believe Starbucks to be brand they trust (50%), offering high quality product (51%). Next exhibit suggests, who customers visiting Starbucks stores often, are more satisfied, than customers who buy coffee from the company average four visits per month.

Starbucks can be categorized as one of the biggest and famous coffee company in the world. In 1971, Starbucks start its first business in Seattle. Nowadays, it owns a large amount of retailer stores which is more than 17,000 stores in 30 different countries (Scribd, 2016). The main product sold in Starbucks is coffee. Starbucks aims to provide their customers with high quality whole bean coffee and best coffee experience. Furthermore, it is more focus on two level of customers which are high end and upper middle class customers (Slideshare, 2016). The goal of Starbucks is to become the most recognized and well-known brand in the world ( Personal, 2010).

Starbucks provide a large in store seating with free wi fi and a take-out service which only a few retail shops offer. The main target customers for Starbucks are office workers, with enough income, whom are able to afford the high prices of their products (Gaudio, 2003). The company has worked hard to establish itself as the brand leader with its branding as the most frequently drank coffee and noticeable brand logo. Introduction of promotions like the Starbucks Card, allows a more convenient way for a person to
pay for
your
drinks
and
earn
rewards
for
your purchase (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2011).
Furthermore, in‐store
promotions
accompanied
by
new
products and
amenities like free internet use are all strategies that Starbucks use to maintain their position in the market (Vasudha, 2011).

Starbucks Corporation is a globally well-known America company, who has been successfully maintained its stable loyal customer basis around the world. The company was initially established in Seattle, Washington, providing quality premium coffees with a superior level of customer service. The goal for Starbucks coffee is to grow under the highest standards of quality, using ethical sourcing practices, being dedicated in serving the world’s finest coffee and creating best customer experiences. Starbucks had made it.