Starbucks : What Key Driving Forces Coffee Shop Retailers?

As the world’s number one specialty coffee retailer, Starbucks sells coffee drinks, food items, coffee beans, and coffee-related accessories and equipment. In addition, Starbucks sells whole-bean coffees through a specialty sales group and grocery stores. Starbucks has grown beyond coffee into related businesses such as coffee-flavoured ice cream and ready-to-drink coffee beverages. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Starbucks business strategy, customer value proposition, company’s operations and the risks to financial results and reporting in the short term.

In this technique, internal strengths and weaknesses of a company and external opportunities and threats faced by it are closely examined to chart a marketing strategy for the future (Forsyth, 2010, pp. 102-106). Major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Starbucks are analyzed below.

For Starbucks corporations, this presents an opportunity to grow in the domestic market when currently there are 50% of Americans that drink coffee as well. This percentage also correlates to a 225.2 billion dollar impact in the U.S. Along with growth in coffee shops; the coffee industry had managed to be 1.6% of total gross domestic product in the United States. This opportunity received a weight of .10 in this External Factor Evaluation. This second rating was given a 2 for average.

Starbucks is no doubt a phenomenon in the United States, but the brand wants to expand globally. Opening chains in various global locations such as Japan, Vienna, England; Starbucks wants to reach out to the coffee loving fans everywhere. Nevertheless opening chains globally is not that simple. There are many uncontrollable factors Starbucks need to focus on to make sure they are making profit as well has abiding by the country’s laws and regulations. Going global takes a lot of market research to make sure that the brand will be successful even with uncontrollable factors. Controllable factors can be tailored to fit the needs of each country. Starbucks has to find the happy medium so they don’t lose their identity overseas.

Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta and Howard Schultz were both in their own right, exceptional leaders. Howard Schultz, in just 31 years has turned the idea of providing joy and enjoyment to people in a cup of coffee into a $100 billion dollar enterprise. Arizmendiarrieta aided and educated the first founders of the Mondragon Co-operative which currently employees an excess of 100,000 people and annual sales of $14 billion Euros (www.bmeacham.com/blog/?p=405)). Arizmendiarrieta led an entire population to self-sufficiency and whilst there is no comparison to the vast financial success of Starbucks, the continuing existence of Mondragon is the legacy of an inspirational leader. The aspects of behaviours, motives, trait, power, charismatic

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 story of Starbucks starts when Howard Schultz joined the marketing team and transformed a commodity into a cultural phenomenon. After traveling to Italy, Howard became fascinated with the European coffee experience and wanted to bring that experience and sense of community back to the US. He wanted Starbuck to be America’s third place between work and home, a place people could relax and enjoy.

Several key success factors exist for Starbucks, a leader in the coffee industry. They include

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Most know Starbucks, the ubiquitous retail chain that, in the 1990’s, turned coffee drinking into a national pastime. However few know Howard Schultz, the humble chairman, CEO and mastermind behind Starbucks’. Schultz is credited with bringing Italy’s “coffeehouse culture” to the United States and packaging it for mass consumption. This maverick marketer transformed a little-known four-chain store in the leading retailer of specialty coffee in North America.

“We are not in the coffee business, serving people. We are in the people business, serving coffee”, Howard Schultz’s philosophy has shaped and continues shape Starbucks, the world’s number one specialty coffee retailer with over 21,000 outlets in more than 65 countries nowadays (Starbucks, 2011). Starbucks was founded in 1971 and Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982. In 1987, Howard acquired Starbucks and changed the name to Starbucks Corporation.

Howard Schultz didn’t just build a company, he built an empire. Starbucks’ Coffee is a benchmark in the coffee trade, for coffee drinkers and, even non-coffee drinkers. He nursed a small company in the big city of Seattle, to a global

Sitting, sipping, spending; these are all things one can do in a coffee shop. Coffee shops are in nearly every town in the US. This market has become separate from the rest of the dining industry by specializing in a variety of coffee and coffee drinks. Coffee shops have started to bring new tastes and options for consumers. Coffee shops are a luxury that are beginning to seem stable and perhaps permanent part of the economy, they meet a demand for out of home coffee and meeting spaces.

What was once a small coffee shop opened by Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Ziev Siegl in 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has grown into the number one specialty coffee retailer. With over 10,000 coffee shops in more than 30 countries, of which 4,200 are licensed and franchised and 6,000 are owned, the company’s main objective is to establish Starbucks as the “most recognized and respected brand in the world,” (Moon). Currently, Starbucks is relying on retail expansion, product innovation, and service innovation to achieve a long-term goal once set by current chairman Howard Schultz: “The idea was to create a chain of coffeehouses that

Starbucks’ retail entry model in the United States does not have the same strategy as their international model. In the states Starbucks holds great control as a corporation, but in international territory, country partnerships, cultural, government laws and politics play a very important role in Starbucks’ entry strategy. Starbucks has set it sights globally since the coffee market has come close to saturation in the U.S. which will give them the opportunity to continue to expand without fierce competition. Starbucks has looked to countries like India and other emerging markets with great growth potential to set down new roots. Starbucks recognizes India as a great choice to expand business internationally but also recognizes the complexity in the same market after several attempts to enter without success.