The Most Important Starbucks ' Marketing Strategy

The Starbucks former strategy was centered in offering a high quality product to a narrow consumer segment (coffee lovers), therefore, a

Starbucks was conscious of China’s economic and financial challenges and the fact that the average Chinese earns $500 a month and drinks just three cups of coffee a year was a major challenge to overcome. How many $4 cups of coffee do they actually want or can they afford? The Chinese are among the toughest lot in the world to convince on the price-value relationship. They are very cost-conscious and look for value in whatever they pay for.

I set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what I may find. So I decided to look around at what is close to my home that isn’t a place I frequent or have even visited at all. Then it came to me, the Starbucks that is only about a mile away is a perfect place for me to observe subjects that I would consider different from myself, seeing as how I consider such obscene prices for coffee ridiculous. Starbucks is a very popular chain of coffee vendors that describe their product as more about quality than what Americans are used to in typical coffee joints.

starbucks Corp., an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, has expanded rapidly since its opening in 1971. These outrageous success was due to its well-developed strategy vision which lay out the company's strategic course in developing and strengthening its business. Starbucks is a global corporation that sells authentic coffee in 30 countries, reporting revenues of nearly $5.1 billion in 2006. The main goal of Starbucks is to embrace diversity by applying the highest standards of excellence. Starbucks strives to perfect the relationship with the working class by making the service as fast as possible because they believe that every customer has their own personal rate. One

In 1971 Starbucks started as a small coffee shop that specialized in selling whole arabica beans in Seattle’s Pike Place market. After being inspired by Milan’s coffee culture - especially the role it espresso bars played in the Italians’ everyday social lives - Starbucks opened an espresso bar in the corner of their shop. Their ideal was to create a ‘third place’ - besides home and work - where people could relax and enjoy a good cup of coffee (Moon & Quelch, 2006). Over two decades the company enlarged and served over 20 million unique customers in over 5,000 stores around the world. Their brand strategy could best be described as ‘live coffee’, which meant creating an ‘experience’ around the consumption of coffee that fitted into people 's everyday lives (Moon & Quelch, 2006). Three components were fundamental for their branding strategy. First of all, the coffee itself which should represent the highest-quality coffee in the world, derived from Africa, Central and South America, and the Asia-Pacific regions (Moon & Quelch, 2006). Secondly, the atmosphere should be inviting and make customers feel comfortable. The ambiance in stores should make customers want to stay (Moon & Quelch, 2006). Thirdly, service - customer intimacy - is a key factor within their brand strategy, which aims to create an experience for the customers, and aims at building customer loyalty (Moon & Quelch, 2006). The employees - called ‘partners’ - are

China is a fast-changing market and it has paid off for Starbucks. The middle class citizens of mainland China consider Starbucks coffee a luxury. The customers are willing to pay the premium price just for the customer experience. The success of this strategy is due in part to the in-store training and people-development model used in China. This way, Starbucks ensures its brand positioning is consistent with customers’ expectancy of having the Starbucks experience that is provided in the United States.

We’re called partners, because it’s not just a job, it’s our passion. Together, we embrace diversity to create a place where each of us can be ourselves. We always treat each other with respect and dignity. And we hold each other to that standard.

Anyone can enter the coffee industry by just selling coffee, anytime, anywhere. Thus, entry into the coffee industry has low barriers causing a downward sloping demand curve. However, it is Starbucks branding image that has differentiated themselves from other café competitors with their aesthetic appeal and concepts of its stores. Stores are visually appealing and have a ‘cool’ factor about them. Additionally, they provide free wife, great music and great customer service, which draws a warm environment or community to engage in the “Starbucks Experience” (Geereddy, 2015).

The Chinese market makes up a large portion of Starbucks’ profit. China’s population plays a big role in the importance of that market to Starbucks and the ability to pull a big profit from that region. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Howard Schultz said, “We educated [China] on coffee…now [China is] drinking as much coffee as [America] is.” (Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, bloomberg.com) This statement shows how quickly the Chinese market expanded to the size of the American market and is continuing to expand. This growth will not stop

Starbucks strategy at the beginning was based upon creating a symbolic-expressive value trough a social meaning concept of offering the American community meeting places; this positioned its original products and made associations to identify consumers with self-expression providing personal, social and sociocultural meaning.

When Starbucks entered China in 1999, many were sceptical that Starbucks had a chance. Given the fact that Chinese people have traditionally favoured tea, it seemed impossible that Starbucks would be able to break into this market. However, Starbucks did not let this scepticism stop it. A careful market study revealed that as the Chinese middle class emerged, there existed an

Under today’s ever-changing market, strategic marketing planning has become more and more significant whether of the functional or the fundamental. Especially, although financial crisis leaded economy growth slowdown, it did not cause a serious influence for chain coffee shop. As Howard Schultz said, CEO of Starbucks, “I don't think we had a business plan for the severity of what has taken place. History demonstrated to us that a downturn in the economy would not affect us, and in fact, we would be recession-proof.” (Katie Couric, 2008) Based on Financial Times, Starbucks revealed that strong earnings of $242m of 2008, a jump from the $64m it recorded during the comparable period last year and total revenues for the quarter

Starbucks Coffee starts in 1971 with a single store in Seattle's Pike Place Market. Today, they are privileged to

Starbucks also managed to build its brand with the perception of a “complete customer experience” by creating a look in their stores that emphasized on comfort in terms of design, colors, furniture, music and even service. The introduction of the coffee shop concept made it a “personal treat” for the

Although the Chinese dislike drinking in public, the high awareness of the brand and the Chinese market being so brand-driven outweighs this habit. The Chinese consumers perceived the high prices as conveying quality and sophistication. Retailers keep this in mind as they charge more for public consumption, as customers go to Starbucks if not for the coffee, but to present themselves as modern Chinese in a public setting. China 's tightly regulated business environment still throws up lots of hurdles for Starbucks. Its fragmented government and currency-conversion limits make banking difficult. "If I want to move money out of China, it 's a hellish process," says Charles Jemley, Starbucks vice president of finance in China. Book bags and coffee mugs barely made it out of customs in time for Starbucks to pass them out at a rural teacher-training session