Starbucks Case Study

By way of example, this case study focuses on a request by McDonalds to serve Starbucks coffee at its ' restaurants in order to discuss the marketing strategy and the underlying competitive premise that Starbucks has adopted to achieve both of their goals. The study also describes the role the internet potentially can play in developing Starbucks

(3a): What trade-offs has Starbucks made? What different activity choices has it made from its rivals?

1. What factors accounted for Starbucks’ extraordinary success in the early 1990’s? What was so compelling about the Starbucks’ value proposition? What brand image did Starbucks develop during this period? Is the value proposition still valid in 2002?

1. In the beginning, how was Starbucks different from other coffee options for coffee drinkers in the United States? What activities and assets did Starbucks leverage to differentiate itself from competitors?

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.

Despite the initial financial troubles, Starbucks went on to expand to 870 stores by 1996. From the beginning, Starbucks set out to be a different kind of company. One that not only celebrated coffee and the rich tradition, but that also brought a feeling of connection. Their mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time”. Today, with more than 18,000 stores in 62 countries, Starbucks is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. And with every cup, we strive to bring both our heritage and an exceptional experience to life.

The following section of this deals with some of the main factors within the Starbucks companies’ micro environment. More specifically, the following headings will be explored:

When it comes to the introduction of Starbucks , The Starbucks was initially opened in 1971; the store was in the pike place market in Seattle and sold coffee beans. Where three coffee lovers were huge lovers to their day today coffee was the initials to this world renowned business , Starbucks grew slowly , what they differentiated from the ordinary coffee’s is they looked beyond it

Over the past twenty five years, Starbucks has been leading the coffee revolution and turned a dying industry upside down by mainstreaming their stores and creating a public fascination. From the beginning of Starbucks stores through 2006, they have opened stores all over the U.S. and will be taking it overseas. Starbucks is leading the coffee revolution and has expanded their reach all over the world. With this much growth, it is easy for the company to lose their edge by forgetting the reasons they have become so large from the beginning. In this analysis, I am going to go over an economic assessment, marketing

The company competes with other sellers, like Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds, in the coffee market, but ultimately is overwhelmingly dominant. In the monopoly, Starbucks has had to create a unique identity and brand image for itself in order to succeed amongst competitors. Starbucks has been able to successfully differentiate itself from its competition by priding itself in quality assurance to its customers as well as its distinctive brand marketing strategy, which includes a large number of stores and little to no paid advertising; the company feels their high quality products speak for themselves and a high presence of storefronts allows customers to purchase their products at their own

Starbucks’ success in the early 1990s could be mainly attributed to Howard Schultz, the one who took over the company from the Starbucks’ founders. There were three factors that contribute to the success of Starbucks. Firstly, Schultz had a very clear vision about the company, which was to cultivate the coffee drinking experience in the nation, making Starbucks the “Third Place” of ordinary citizens and the leading brand of the industry. With this vision, Schultz began to open a large number of new stores that widely spread over the nation, aiming to make the brand go public, be recognized and shared through word of mouth. The company barely spent money on advertising, but the brand became well known itself because of the large presence of

Starbucks operates in the highly competitive retail coffee industry. The barriers to enter this industry are low. The number of firms is high. The product offerings are similar. Their competitors are quick-service restaurants, such as McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts, specialty chain coffee shops, such as Dutch Brothers and Tim Horton, convenience shops, such as 7-eleven, and local ‘Mom and Pop’ coffee shops (Starbucks Corporation,

The purpose of this essay is to prepare a strategy formulation analysis required by the company. The company selected is Starbucks Corporation, commonly known as Starbucks, when they first started in Seattle, Washington in 1971, founded by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker; and became an American multinational company which started from scratch (Garza, n.d.). It was then incorporated on November 4, 1985, and is a roaster, marketer, and retailer of coffee. Starbucks offers a range of exceptional products include coffee, handcrafted beverages, merchandise, and fresh food. The company 's mission is "to inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time" (Starbucks, 2012).

Starbucks is a globally recognised coffee shop with thousands of locations worldwide. Originally Starbucks set out to sell coffee beans but now has global recognition for its famous coffee and comfortable settings in each Starbucks location. The aim of this report is to give an overview on Starbucks as a company and how it markets its products and services, also a brief look at its history. How this company started out with one location and now has over twenty thousand locations worldwide.

Starbucks came up with several products and differentiation strategy as they provided a high quality coffee and unique experience in the convenience of a large volume of locations, and Starbucks tried to add value through innovation, offering Wi-Fi service, creating and selling its own music. More recently, Starbucks attempted to put the focus back on coffee, revitalizing the quality of its standard beverages. But none of these moves addressed the fundamental problem because Starbucks is a mass brand attempting to command a premium price for an experience that is no longer special.