Starbucks Marketing Objectives
Starbuck’s is proud to have recorded an impressive fast growth over the last decade. Over the past ten years, Starbucks has grown from less than a thousand to thirteen thousand stores and more and as thus this has brought about a dilution in the eminence of the Starbucks experience.
Seven attributes of marketing mix are highlighted as prices, products, promotions, processes, places, physical environs and people. The leading objecting of marketing mix is to come up with communication and provide value to clients. Starbucks is employing varied marketing strategies such as customer relationship management, creating a good customer experience integrated marketing communication, and social media marketing (HASKOVA, 2015). The objective that Starbucks has is to have a shareable customer experience with their clients from the low income groups and then be able to build a long term relationship with the customers.
Despite facing difficulties in maintaining their brand image as a result of the slowdown of the economy, Starbucks aims at conquering more in the international market. Starbucks aims at implementing HR practices that will satisfy the employees so that they are able to as well act as brand promoters and also manage effective customer relations.
Now that Starbuck’s has up to 13, 000 stores, they are aiming at having 40, 000 stores around the globe. Starbucks acknowledges that that there are a number of changes that have to accompany such as objective otherwise it will be soon washed down the drains. To be able to have a total of 40, 00 stores in the world, Starbucks acknowledges that this will entail them having to water down and do commoditization of their brand. The chairman of Starbucks says that they are aware that there is a misinterpretation in opening outlets as fast as the organization is capable since doing this does not call for quality control but rather keeping the profits flowing in.
Starbucks Marketing Strategy
Recognition of brand is a vital factor for the growth of businesses whenever the clients are paying for exceptional amounts for the robust brands. Marketing gives a company the opportunity to connect with its clients and targets at having an impact on the consumption habits of the customers. The latest trends in marketing and technology makes value addition and a steady revenue collection for the particular company. Marketing communication translates to building a demand for the goods and services. Companies have chief marketing officers and brand managers who are designated to carry out the common marketing duties within the organizations. The organizations allocate enough marketing budgets for brand management and the development of a sound customer base (Kotler & Keller, 2009).
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Starbucks has laid up its brand in the world market as a proper quality client experience brand. Starbucks gets to sell its high quality products as well as services at premium rates. It is the high quality of the goods and the magnificent customer experience that gives a clear cut difference from the Starbuck’s brand and any other coffee bran in the market. Starbuck’s has come up with designs in their stores that have Italian themes for bars and gives the customers a home like experience whenever they visit the stores. The Starbuck’s customers are loyal to the brand and Starbuck’s pays them back by giving them the very first priority to the customer’s satisfaction so as to come up with a loyal customer base of the Starbuck’s brand (Faase, Helms & Spruit, 2011). Correspondingly, Starbuck’s aims on customer relationship management by ensuring that it integrates communication with the Starbuck’s customers.
Starbuck’s has aggressive strategies that aim at sustaining their position as the market number one due to the intense competitive rivalry that is eminent in the service industry. Starbucks relies on branding and that elaborates why they changed the logo into one that is more focused and climaxes the sustainability of Starbuck’s company policies.
Starbucks has come up with a strategy of brand differentiation strategy via the uniqueness of their products as well as product differentiation so as to promote their products. Starbucks uses innovation in the products that it produces and the services so as to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals in the market. The Starbucks brand has positioned itself as the number one coffee brand in the market as it provides an attractive store design, elegant taste, a unique environment and a high quality of the coffee beans.
Starbucks markets and sells their products through the four channels of food service operations, the licensed stores, consumer packaged goods and the company owned chain of the retail stores.
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Starbucks have, over the years, launched a variety of products as they attempt to promote their already existing products by employing new campaigns and ideas. Starbucks has CRM campaigns as one of the main success strategies that they have that promotes their marketing. Starbucks had a strategy where it did a research on the customers and found the birth dates of the clients. Starbucks then came up with a database where the birth dates of the customers were kept and used to later give extra benefits on the birthdays of the customers. The Starbucks marketing campaign have given its clients the chance to brag on social media about the surprise gift coupons they receive from Starbucks on their birthdays. In turn, Starbucks gets more customers who are also interested in associating with a business that values them.
Starbucks Marketing Tactics
The main target market for the Starbucks are the clients who are ranging from the professionals, tourist and business people to college students and university students. Starbucks has managed to maintain its number one position in the market by customizing its products and services as per the cultures and the tastes that are found in the various regions and countries where their particular stores are located. Owing to this, Starbucks has been able to open more coffee shops in several countries and regions as it introduces its services and products to their international market.
Starbucks has a competitive advantage concerning distribution strategies that include approaching customers when they are at shops, dining, at work or travelling by coming up with some strong distribution networks. Starbucks has the best in class manufacturing process of the fruit juices that it produces as well as the beverages as compared to that of the competitors. So as to be in a position to retain the natural ingredients, and be able to continue attracting more customers all the globe, Starbuck’s makes its beverages using the high pressure pasteurization (HHP) process so as to preserve the nutrients of the juices that it produces. Other than the stores experience and the robust process of high pressure pasteurization, the portfolio of healthy beverages is as well as source of a unique selling proposition for Starbucks as it aims at attracting more customers and opening additional stores all over the international market.
Starbucks over the last years have been in a position to come up with convenient purchase options via smart phone mobile apps. Starbucks has a mobile application payment option where the customers can generate barcodes that they use in given stores. To buy goods from Starbucks, the Starbucks card mobile app is used together with a bar code scanner, the customers get to load their accounts via PayPal services. The payment system that Starbucks adopted for its mobile app is a flexible and convenient way to do payments for the customers since the processing is fast. The apps allow the clients to enjoy some useful features of Starbucks and commerce features of Starbucks. The mobile phone applications by Starbucks has ensured that they gain a competitive advantage over its rivals as it renders mobile commerce connections and at the same time leveraging technology to accommodate the Starbucks customers (Greenberg, 2010). Consequently, Starbucks is having a strong operating performance that is enabling it to expand globally irrespective of the poor consumer response that occasionally arises from the weak economy and the economic crisis.
Starbucks is achieving its objectives thanks to the robust social CRM that it has. Starbucks boasts of having 3.6 million followers on their Twitter platform, 34 million Facebook followers and 6.6 million YouTube views. The success of the Social Media Strategy by Starbucks has enabled it map its strategies in attempts to meet their objectives, their branding strategies as well as integration across the media channels and constant follow-up system to keep track of their social media behaviors and success.
The other tactic that has seen to it that Starbucks meets its objectives in gamification. Of course the increased customer convenience has been brought about by the integration of the payment methods and their mobile apps technology but a golden touch is brought about by gamification. Gamification in the context of Starbucks in marketing is that it adds that element of fun as a strategy to capture the consideration of the customers and as thus makes them want to be engaged with the Starbucks brand.
The Starbucks brand gets to evoke emotions and passion on the customers. The Starbucks is a romantic brand that reminds the public of the Italian coffee houses. But perhaps more decisively, the Starbucks brand is in its own self passionate. The brand name takes care of the products and it also cares about where the products it has are got from. The brand takes care of all the customers and all the stakeholders such as the migrant farm worker in Costa Rica picking the coffee. It is without doubt that the public are attracted to brands that are having a social conscience. The customers want to associate themselves with a brand that is offering a given romantic, affordable luxury experience and that gives them a chance to lift up their days. That is what Starbucks offers to its customers and to the public. Similarly, Starbucks customers are appreciative of the fact that Starbucks is geared at only using individuals who are productive and efficient and not just individual who are shoving products in the customers faces.
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References;
- Starbucks Foundation | Starbucks Coffee Company. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.starbucks.ph/responsibility/community/starbucks-foundation
- Starbucks: Building an Inspiring Brand – CRM Magazine. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/Insight/Starbucks-Building-an-Inspiring-Brand-91935.aspx
- Greenberg, P. (2010). The impact of CRM 2.0 on customer insight. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 25(6), 410-419.
- HASKOVA, K. (2015). STARBUCKS MARKETING ANALYSIS. In cris (p. 0002).
- Faase, R., Helms, R., & Spruit, M. (2011). Web 2.0 in the CRM domain: defining social CRM. International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 5(1), 1-22.