1. INTRODUCTION: The economics behind the coffee shop culture
As a continuously expanding industry, in which the adoption of trends such as “single-origin bean” or “flat whites” can represent the difference between a decent quarter and an excellent one, the coffee shop market in Britain proves to be an interesting field of study in a nation otherwise known for its tea-drinking, pub-loving mentality. With a 6.2 billion pounds turnover in 2013 alone, and an estimated number of 16,015 outlets across the UK, as outlined in a recent Allegra Strategies report (Thomas,2014), the coffee shop industry remains one of the most successful sectors in this country’s economy. Whilst the atmosphere of the generic Café Neros and Costa Coffees is a far cry from the distinct character of London’s first coffee establishments of the 17th Century (Green, 2012), it still provides an interesting perspective, not only on society’s consumption habits, but also on the internal mechanism of organisational culture and communications that these venues appropriate in order to survive and thrive in today’s competitive environment.
The massive expansion of this industry has prompted a high level of competition: despite Costa Coffee, Café Nero and Starbucks dominating the market with a 54% share (Hospitality and Catering News, 2013), there is a growing number of independent coffee houses and artisan shops that spurred the big players to raise their game and improve their performance (Houlder, 2014). But
The specialty coffee industry had seen steady growth for years and the trend was expected to continue until at least 2015. Of the various segments within the specialty coffee industry, most of the growth was attributable to beverage retailers “Coffee and kiosks”. In 1979 there were approximately 250 specialty coffee retailers. The number quadrupled by 1989 to approx 1000 outlets, and it exploded to roughly 15000 by 2002. Nationally, specialty coffee sales totaled over $ 10 billion in 2005.
The growth of the coffee industry is expected to keep growing even become larger in the near future. Without new innovation the industry would never grow. There have been some tiny and some large changes in the coffee world that in toll add up to a new experience that many cannot refuse to be a part of. One of the goals of many coffee shops is to make the customer comfortable and happy. To do this many Starbucks’ around the world have installed new wireless charging stations in there stores so that when costumers are there they can easily charge their phones without worrying about bringing a charger of their own. This new addition to the stores is just one part of getting ready for the future. Phones and technology in general is a huge part of everyday life and this has to be incorporated into many places people shop. By adding technology to stores it makes the entire buying process more streamline. Starbucks has also integrated the use of phones in to the payment system at every store. Customers use their own phone that has a barcode to pay for their goods. With just the touch of a button the entire buying process can be completed. This makes it easy because you do not need to worry about remembering your wallet all you need is your phone and many people already have it with them. Included in the app is also a rewards system that provides user with rewards bases on how often they go and even recommendations for what a customer may enjoy next time. One of the newest changes
Within the coffee industry Starbucks Corporations has grown from a small shop to a leading coffee distributor, proving to have financial strength and determination to continue growth. With the weakening economy the continued success of Starbucks
With 11,000 plus coffeehouses worldwide, it is evident that their strategy of being passionate about their customer relation and their devotion to delivering a quality product goes beyond culture and language.
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.
Despite Peet’s Coffee and Tea being a corporate company, and the amount of stores it has produced, the goals and ambitions have not changed much. Coffee beans and tea’s are still the main focus of Peet’s and where they get most their revenue from. Bill Lilla, Peet’s executive vice president, said his company ensures quality through long-term relationships with growers, and by paying them more than the going rate. On the other hand, Starbucks Coffee insists their size has not affected quality, but it is hard to believe when their size is above and beyond the thousands. As the saying goes, too many cooks ruin the stew, and in this case, Starbucks would be the cooks, and its coffee and early aspirations are the
One of the big reasons Ms. Kudler is so interested in adding gourmet coffee in her stores is because of the massive boom in coffee over the past twenty years. Coffee has gone from a cheap product sold in Styrofoam for twenty five cents to a coffee and espresso mixed in different combinations with sugar and cream sold in fancy cups for over three dollars a cup. So as Ms. Kudler joins the ever growing market she is clear that she is competing with other giants in the coffee industry. Primarily she will be dealing with Starbucks, Starbucks is the coffee industry, and currently they are in many grocery stores and strip malls everywhere. Starbucks is so popular people refer to getting a starbucks rather than getting a coffee. Ms. Kudler is aware Starbucks and there
Because of their substantial growth over two decades, they have spent a considerable amount of time defending their image. Their “clustering” strategy put many small coffee shops out of business and many consumers began to wonder if there really was a need
Conducting a survey was one of the ways to get in touch with our possible future clients and also buyers. We wanted to find out what do people think about our project, would it be successful or not. Our target were people over fifteen years old, because we asumed that children under fifteen don't drink coffee. We conducted the survey at Zagreb School of Economics and Management and in many bars in Zagreb.
The industry’s saturation is moderately high with a monopolistic competition structure. For new entrants, the initial investment is not significant as they can lease stores, equipment etc. at a moderate level of investment. At a localized level, small coffee shops can compete with the likes of Starbucks and Dunkin Brands because there are no switching costs for the consumers. Even though it’s a competitive industry, the possibility of new entrants to be successful in the industry is moderate. But this relatively easy entry into the market is usually countered by large incumbent brands identities like Starbucks who have achieved economies of scale by lowering cost, improved efficiency with a huge market share. There is a moderately high barrier for the new entrants as they differentiate themselves from Starbuck’s product quality, its prime real estate locations, and its store ecosystem ‘experience’. The incumbent firms like Starbucks have a larger scale and scope, yielding them a learning curve advantage and favourable access to raw material with the relationship they build with their suppliers. The expected retaliation from well-established companies for brand equity, resources, prime real estate locations and price competition are moderately high, which creates a moderate barrier to
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?
In conclusion, the Broadway Café faces a strong buying power and rivalry among competitors due to the large volume of shops offering the same products and services. The threat of new substitute products and alternatives is also high for the same reasons for buyer power. The Café also faces the threat of new entrants due to the lack of insignificant entry barriers. One upside is the relatively weak supplier power. The coffee industry is huge as stated above and vendors are more than ample. With this information we can conceive our business focus. The Broadway Café is best suit for a focused differentiation strategy. We plan to achieve
In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.
The demand for coffee shops is born from the increased number of individuals seeking coffee brewed outside of the home. This creates a larger market for coffee shops. An increased amount of people are starting their mornings off by purchasing breakfast and a cup of coffee away from home (Tuttle 2014), more people are enjoying gourmet coffee (NCA National Coffee Drinking Trends 2015 Infographic), and younger generations are demanding more coffee and coffee drinks from coffee shops (Tuttle 2014, S&D Coffee and Tea inc. 2014, Statista 2015). Coffee shops must compete with at home coffee, work place coffee, and teas for the caffeinated beverage markets (LN 2015). Demand for coffee within different markets varies, and provides competition for coffee shops. Single cup coffee makers, increasingly qualitative instant coffees, and gourmet beans are all sources of competition that could satisfy the demand for coffee. However, coffee shops are becoming more ingrained in social
With the development of economic globalization, “fast food” becomes a more and more substantial industry in the business world, which adapts to the pace of people’s life. Each organization spares every effort to stand forward the competition due to the fierce competition. In this article, we focus on the “Starbucks”, a prevailing coffee manufacturer in recent years.