Starbucks Case Study

Introduction

In this day and age with so many different varieties and types of products I have remained loyal to one: Starbucks. I am going to discuss how I became loyal to this brand and what keeps me loyal today. In a timeline format I will explain the strategies Starbucks has undertaken to maintain and extend its product and appeal to the consumer. I will also explain in my conclusion how the research I have done on Starbucks has helped me understand better why I am loyal to this brand.

Loyalty to Starbucks

When I started enjoying drinking coffee I was 18 years old. I had just graduated high school and was working in the electrical construction field. I would order a coffee from Dunkin Donuts every morning to give me that little boost of energy before work. Dunkin Donuts was the only coffee place round the area I worked in. Ten years later I noticed a new coffee house in the area which was called Starbucks so I decided to go inside and give them a try. When I walked in they had music playing, everything was organized and clean. They had sofas where u could sit down and relax and drink your coffee and read the newspaper, magazines or just sit and talk to friends. The employees that worked for Starbucks where so knowledgeable about the coffee making process and so dedicated to their job, this was a huge selling point for me.

Starbucks has so many different types of coffee drinks they offer to their customers such as Lattes, Frappuccino, Espressos, dark roast blends, multi region blends, and blends from Latin America, Africa, Arabia, Asia and the Pacific. Not only does Starbucks offer coffee and drinks but they also offer a variety of pastries and confections, and coffee related accessories or equipment primarily through their company-operated retail stores. Starbucks has a very informative website that explains about their coffees, retail stores and all the new information and news about their new coffee being introduced that week in their retail stores. Starbucks also delivers food, coffees and teas to businesses and corporations for their break time needs. These reasons I just discussed are the handprint of why I am so loyal to Starbucks.(http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/overview.asp)

Strategies Timeline

Starbucks has maintained and extended its appeal to consumers by implementing these strategies which I am going to discuss in the timeline below:

1971 - Starbucks opens its first location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

1983 - Howard Shultz Director of retail operations and marketing traveled to Italy where he was impressed by the popularity of the espresso bars in Milan. He sees the potential to develop a similar coffeehouse culture in Seattle.

1984 - Shultz convinced the founders of Starbucks to test the coffeehouse concept in Seattle, where the first Caffй latte was served. Starbucks introduces the Christmas blend.

1993 - Starbucks begins their relationship with Barnes & Noble. Putting a Starbucks retail store in a bookstore would benefit revenue and was offered $80.5 million from Barnes & Noble bookstores.

1995 - Starbucks begins selling compact discs as a result of their popular in-house music program. They begin to serve Frappuccino blended beverages and introduce Starbucks ice cream. Starbucks forms joint venture with SAZABY Inc. to open coffeehouses in Japan which makes them more global available.

1996 - Starbucks and Pepsi-cola company begin selling bottled Frappuccino coffee drinks. At this point there are 1,015 Starbucks locations available.

1997 - Starbucks establishes a foundation benefiting local literacy programs in communities where Starbucks has coffeehouses.

1998 - Starbucks acquires Seattle Coffee Company in the United Kingdom with more than 60 locations. They also launched Starbucks.com website to make their company more accessible.

1999 - Partners with Conservation International to promote environmentally friendly methods of growing coffee.

2001 - Introduces the Starbucks card, this card is a store-value card for customers to use and reload. Starbucks opens 300th location in Japan. Starbucks locations at this point are 4,709.

2002 - Introduces the Starbucks Double Shot coffee drink to the ready-to-drink category. The beverage menu line extended to include crиme, a non-coffee blended beverage option. Launches its high-seed wireless internet service branded T-Mobile Hot Spot.

2003