Since establishing the first coffee store in 1971 in Seattle, Starbucks has fundamentally focused its attention on serving the consumer with a cup of coffee beyond the ordinary. In each of your visit to Starbucks, you are rejuvenated with the inviting aroma of the roasted coffee. In addition, the calm and relaxing ambiance of the cafe is an ideal location for socialization with friends and family members.
Whilst mainly targeting the consumer demands of white-collar customers, Starbucks has focused its attention on factors such as ambiance of the cafe and serving unique and quality coffee in order to improve the satisfaction of the consumer in each visit. Hence, in the journey of becoming the best-known coffee-roaster and server in the globe, Starbucks has maintained a unique brand personality and identity by preserving the same distinctive ambiance in the outlets whilst serving quality coffee. As a prominent company with many outlets worldwide, Starbucks is now beyond a cafe serving a cup of coffee due to its vision of addressing the changing consumer demands and its capability of comprehending the expectations of their targeted group of customers. Moreover, the vision of Starbucks for 2020 includes their mission towards coffee sustainability, Eco-friendly concerns and community engagement.
Besides, in order to preserve the coffee-centric ambiance in their outlets, Starbucks has abandoned serving breakfast items in most of their cafes. The smell of the breakfast sandwiches overpowers the aroma of coffee, and thus their withdrawal from serving breakfast is demonstrative of the company’s awareness of the expectations of the coffee lovers. In order to maintain the consistency of the taste, Starbucks gives prominence to darker roasts. The invigorating aroma of darker roasts offers a lasting coffee-tasting experience for the consumer and thus it invites the customer to visit the outlet again. In the same time, providing free internet access to consumers and electric charging points for laptops and mobile phones has transcended the conventional cafe culture. Thus, Starbucks has become an ideal location for a consumer to read a book in the evening whilst consuming a cup of coffee or to use social media via mobile devices along with a coffee. The secret of the company’s success lies on the fact that of realizing the demands and expectations of the segmented group of consumers.
In order to provide a personalized experience for the consumer, Starbucks writes the name of the customer on the coffee cup. This demonstrates how the company utilizes consumer psychology in increasing their market. It seems that the ideal customer of Starbucks prefers in-store experience of the coffee shop rather than doing online orders. Nevertheless, the consumer in today’s context expects digital and mobile technology to be merged and incorporated into the regular store experience. The future challenge before Starbucks is to fulfill the comfort and pleasure of a coffee store whilst utilizing digital technology to address the changing consumer perception. Furthermore, the integration of digital channels into Starbucks will allow the marketer to prioritize the brand and to make the consumer experience smooth and efficient.
In the odyssey of future, in the next decade, Starbucks will widely incorporate digital technology to enhance the quality of the consumer experience. The company is in its journey of attracting new consumers and re-positioning their brand identity.
