Starbucks Coffee 's Five Forces Analysis

Seattle based, Starbucks Corporation is the leading coffeehouse chain in the world. The company has its operations in more than 44 countries. The main products offered by Starbucks various kinds of drinks, snacks, coffee beans. The company also operates in the field of marketing of music, books (The Company, 2008).

Starbucks, place of worship for the most coffee. It is a chain of cafes-coffee shops, with more than 17,000 establishments distributed in 49 countries. There are those who roam the cities looking for their logo to sit on a couch and surf their wifi enjoying a great cup of coffee.

Starbucks is one of the most recognizable coffee retail chains in the world. Their brand focuses on high quality coffee using specialized roasting of beans from many countries around the world.

Coffee drinkers all have one thing in common; they want their coffee made to their specification. Most soft drinks, milkshakes, and draft beer are ready made. Coffee has many flavors and that can be an operational nightmare. Starbucks has 10 different types of coffee beans, 12 blends of flavors and loads of special toppings.

The industrial rivalry in coffee industry has increased to a large extent since 1987 and today Starbucks is facing tough competition from different small scale coffee shops and fast food companies.

Starbucks Corporation, an American company founded in 1971 in Seattle, WA, is a premier roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee around world. Starbucks has about 182,000 employees across 19,767 company operated & licensed stores in 62 countries. Their product mix includes roasted and handcrafted highquality/ premium priced coffees, tea, a variety of fresh food items and other beverages. They also sell a variety of coffee and tea products and license their trademarks through other channels such as licensed stores, grocery and national foodservice accounts.1 Starbucks also markets its products mix with other brand names within its portfolio of companies,

Starbucks is acclaimed for its superior value proposition in the early 1990’s by creating an experience around the consumption of coffee, a ‘third place’. The brand is positioned to offer the highest quality coffee, close customer intimacy, and warm atmosphere or ambience.

This is an opportunity for Starbucks. Customers will face no switching costs in switching premium coffee suppliers from Starbucks, to, for example, Seattle 's Best. This is a threat to Starbucks. Another threat to Starbucks is that their customers have the ability to brew their own coffee. Starbucks has tried to offset this threat by offering Preferred Office Coffee Providers as well as directions on how to make the perfect cup of Starbucks Coffee at home, called the "Four Fundamentals of Coffee" (starbucks.com). The perfect cup of Starbucks Coffee includes, of course, Starbucks ' ingredients! It is clear that Starbucks customers have some bargaining power in the industry.

Starbucks is known as the premier company of the finest coffee in the world. They purchase and roast high quality whole bean coffee, sells them with fresh, rich-brewed Italian style espresso beverages, pastries, confections and

Starbucks coffee is a well-known around100 years ago. in the 1970s , three Americans to turn it into a coffee shop signs to promote the spirit of America`s coffee, and since then, Starbucks coffee growing to recently the worldwide fascinating companries. Starbucks coffee using a unique way to make coffee, refresh resources, high quality coffee beans,environmental products and the different foods provided. As it able to keep a long-lasting, high value-added brands, strong culture backgroud, those all the facors to keep the companries enhance marketing position.

Barriers to entry for coffee retailers are low, hence increasing the threat of new entrants. Equipment, facilities, furniture, etc. can be leased by new coffee retailers, thus, reducing initial capital expenditure and upfront investment. Since the industry is high fragmented at the bottom levels, new players can create and compete in niche areas within the market. However, small players may not be able to compete with the major players in the industry who have successfully achieved economies of scale and high degree of operational efficiency. Furthermore, consumers may have a strong association and preference for a brand such as Starbucks and may be reluctant to switch to another new brand of coffee.

Based on a SWOT analysis, some of the strengths of Starbucks are its corporate social responsibility and financial position. Weaknesses include too many stores and high prices. Opportunities are a growing market in Asia. Threats of Starbucks are increase of competition and increase of raw materials. Recently, a Wall Street analyst highly critiqued Starbucks for its products being too expensive and having too many locations. Because of this it is expected to not have as much growth as it used to in the past couple of

Starbucks is a famous coffeehouse. Until the mid-1980s it was only a provider of coffee to fine restaurants. Thereafter Howard Schultz, director of retail operations and marketing, was impressed of the popularity of coffee in Milan while he was in Europe .

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world. Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks, and items such as mugs and coffee beans. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores. Starbucks’ Italian style coffee, espresso beverages, teas, pastries and confections had made Starbucks one of the greatest retailing stories of recent history and world’s biggest specialty coffee chain.

Starbucks Corporation, working together as Starbucks Coffee, is an American worldwide espresso organization and coffeehouse chain situated in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the biggest coffeehouse organization .