Relationship Activities Of Starbucks

Dear Diary, this is Howard Schultz writing to you today. I am sitting here reminiscing about my early years at Starbucks. I remember working at Hammarplast, when my curiosity got the better of me, and I wondered why this small coffee shop was ordering so many plastic cone filters. It is worth noting, that I had no ulterior motives when visiting Starbucks in 1981. Subsequently, I was impressed with their operation, and expressed my desire to work with the company. Consequently, it took me over a year to convince them, but eventually, I was awarded the marketing director position. Then, shortly after, during a trip to Milan I discovered the romance of coffee. Interestingly, I knew that there was a way to incorporate what I learned in Milan into the Starbucks brand, I just had to convince the owners. I remember the guys rejecting some of my ideas, thinking that my style was unsuited for the laid back atmosphere. Unfortunately, I was unable to convey my vision effectively, it was never the right time or the right path for those guys. Shortly afterwards, I left to pursue my dreams, of an espresso empire. Surprisingly, a few years later, I found out Starbucks was available to purchase. Somehow, I was able to raise the capital needed to purchase Starbucks, and this is when my dream began to blossom. Thus, I always felt that, I was the only one that was able to envision what the company could be. First, I started with the employees. Moreover, I wanted the employees to feel as if

The extraordinary success Starbucks experienced during the early 1990s resulted from Howard Schultz’s passion and vision to create a coffee culture in the United States similar to the coffee culture he experienced while traveling to Italy. Schultz’s vision of the Starbucks brand evolved around providing a quality product while delivering exceptional customer service in an inviting atmosphere. Starbucks’ success can be attributable to the following factors:

The employees of Starbucks--Howard Schultz refers to them as the most important asset--are trained to open a new world of coffee for customers. Howard Schultz wants customers to perceive Starbucks as a friendly environment. He treats his employees exceptionally well too. Starbucks offers full health benefits and stock options to its workforce (Bollier 167). The employees are treated with great appreciation; they have no other reason why they shouldn’t treat the customers with respect in a Starbucks restaurant.

Seeing a Starbucks sign reminds a person of the tantalizing flavors that are brewed from the store that sells millions of people their first cup of coffee every morning. Upon walking into the store, it is inviting and welcoming. The staff is friendly and helpful and the crowd is eager to enjoy that bittersweet java on the taste buds. When an order is made, the staff prepares each individual cup of coffee fresh, and exactly to the customer’s preference. Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world. Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz has built a booming empire, with 13,500

Starbucks is a multinational firm that mainly sells roasted specialty coffee in its established retail stores. With headquarters in United States, Starbucks also operates in more than 50 countries across the world. The company was established in 1971 and has expanded its operations within the US borders consistently since then (Seaford & Brooks, 2012). One of the most significant drivers for the good performance of the entity prior to 21st century was good reputation as an organization that was socially responsible and willingness to cater for the interest of its stakeholders. Remarkably, the current status of Starbucks has been attained mainly through the support of its hardworking and committed employees. For the first three decades,

As more products were introduced and added, customers felt the Starbucks experience had changed with added orders of hot breakfast sandwiches. Furthermore, the atmosphere aroma smelled more like McDonald 's basic coffee than the quality brand coffee in the Starbucks coffee shop (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014).

The target customers were women aged between 24 and 44, well educated, wealthy and professional. The aim for Starbucks was to obtain company growth by providing its costumers with the best experience. The customers appreciated to be called by name by the waitresses in the shop and to chat with them during their stay at Starbucks. The company originally had the aim to open 10.000 new stocks in only 4 years time and right after Mr Schultz pressed to build 40.000 new Starbucks stocks. The comfortable and pleasant atmosphere made people fall in love with Starbucks and desire to come back even more than once a

The main aim of the corporation remained the same: to be the leading company at selling exclusive coffee and increase market share in the North America, which was prosperously achieved. As a customer-oriented entity Starbucks place their clients in the centre of the business activity, having satisfaction of customers’ needs as a priority (Boşcor & Tălpău, 2011). Howard Schultz explains, “We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people’s business serving coffee” (Schultz & Yang, 1999). Starbucks does not just sell coffee; it sells the “Starbucks experience”. The store designers with the HR and Operations departments have created a place where people would come back again and again. As of November 4, 2015 there are 23,132 Starbucks stores operating all over the world (Loxcel Geomatics, 2015) and they are not planning on stopping the rapid expansion. However, due to the cultural differences people have diverse needs, which cannot be met by using one universal international standard for every store in every country. Therefore, in order to gain necessary competitiveness in local markets Starbucks Corporation has to adapt its marketing mix so it could correspond to the existent demand. What strategies Starbucks Corporation applies entering new markets (like in Japan and Australia instances) will be discussed in the following

The story of Starbucks starts in 1971, a quiet little area in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, opens a coffee shop serving specialty coffee and pastries. In 1983, the concept of the Italian Coffee Bar was introduced by Howard Schultz, President of Starbucks (Starbucks.com, 2015) and changed this little coffee place into a new market. Since then, the Coffee industry has boomed in the United States and both coffee and coffee related items have grown by competitors like Coffee Bean and Dunkin’ Donuts. Starbucks is now in 66 countries and over 21,000 stores and growing. The menu has increased with not just

Starbucks have one vision from day one to present, which is to be the premier provider for the world’s finest coffee. In doing so they also achieved being one of the most recognized brand and maintained principles and values form the first step of planting the coffee seed to handing a cup of coffee to their customers. Starbucks are very fond to their employee who they call their partners. They focus a lot on the happiness of their partners since they believe that happy employees will create a better environment and experience for the customers. They strive to be the most appreciated and positively graded coffee brands by all the different class levels of customers and employees around the world.

One of the main strength of Starbucks is their robust financial performance which in turns helps it to become the market leader in the category of coffee. According to (Forbes, 2014) Starbucks Market cap is around $55.94 Billion which is the main edge over its competitors. Achieving the Top of the mind strategy, whenever we listen coffee or best customer care and quality, we automatically refer Starbucks in our mind. With over 21000 stores in more than 65 countries, it shows great expansion and connection in the world (www.Starbucks.com). Due to great expansion, Starbucks can afford a premium price of coffee and other products. Starbucks is known for its management skills in terms of quality and customer service. They put a lot of emphasis on people skills and soft skills which is critically important in terms of success and failure. It creates a soft ambiance for its employees in which they remain happy and at the end of the day they make customers happy. My StarbucksIdea.com enable customer to provide their feedback on the customer and product services. On the other hand Starbucks uses experiential marketing, in which customer always wanted to experience the environment of Starbucks.

Starbucks had a very tight value proposition that matched the needs of the well conceptualized target customer base. Its mantra was ‘Live Coffee’. Their unique value proposition was based on three elements, premium coffee, the right ambience and best service. Starbucks claimed its coffee quality to be the best in the world. A lot of their revenue came from the sale of whole beans. They strived to get a perfect ambience. The labors were trained on honing their soft and hard skills to provide “Customer Intimacy”.

Starbucks sells a lifestyle, to customers and employees alike (Appendix E). It has learned from the experience of Pepsi and others to link its brand to new trends. Therefore Starbucks ' success could be attributed to objective to meet their customers needs and

Besides that, Starbuck realize that the element of human is a very important chain in success in the industry. But they are not start with the top of the human resource but from the bottom one. That is why they have a lot of places to educate for the new employees. According to many survey and research, Starbucks is one of business place have the best customer service. Every time I come to Starbucks, the employees there behave very friendly and helpful. They tried to serve customers with the best behaviors which they studied from Starbucks. Even if any customers complained anything about the drinks or food, they also be friendly and smile, after that, that employees tried to fix the problems. That makes people are willing to spend money in this brand name than the others like Dunkin’s Donut or Mc Donald even though they are also have some similar products. The products that Starbucks sell in their store is not only the coffee but also the value of brand name and the feeling of respect when people come there. Starbucks can become a place for students who want to go for group work, it is also become a place for people who can come for do business and discussion or the basic idea is a place to enjoy a cup of coffee. In any purpose, Starbucks can perfectly become a good place for that. The atmosphere which Howard tried to create for Starbucks is suitable for many kinds of people.

Starbucks is active when it comes to expansion into other countries. The organization adapts their products in order to fit local tastes and preferences. This strategy is has been well received and profitable in all locations the company has penetrated. Starbucks has done an exceptional job strategically determining the consumer tastes and preferences and that are associated globally. Based on this strategy the organization has been able to offer one common line of products to satisfy customer needs around the world. For example, coffee lovers in Latin America may enjoy a bitterer coffee taste over the milder brews that are actually more popular in Asia (Starbucks.com).