Coffee drinking is widespread across the world and has become a mainstay of social customs. Ronald Troyer and Gerald Markle identify this in their article, Coffee Drinking: An Emerging Social Problem by saying “Its (coffee’s) daily use stimulates social interaction. The coffee pot is present at most work places, business meetings, and social gatherings. The coffee break is a time for relaxed conversation during the workday.” Coffee’s widespread success can be related to its ability to overcome age and cultural restraints, having been adapted as numerous varieties over several landscapes, as well as its ability to evolve in flavour, and type of product to suit consumer demand. Coffee has been successfully produced not only as a beverage, but also as variants including ice cream, alcohol and sweets; all of these products feature heavily in social interaction and the everyday.
Channels of distributions are another. The new variation of latte and espresso sold as a ready to drink beverage sold in convenient stores is different from the traditional cup of coffee at a Starbucks store. This is management controlling the distribution channel in which the coffee is sold. Price is another element. Starbucks is known to have a more expensive product.
At the start, was having created a successful brand strategy coupled with their rapid growth of new store openings in “high-traffic, high visibility settings”. As well, selling premium priced coffee in addition to whole beans. They were particularly skilled at choosing and catering to their target market of “primarily affluent, well-educated, white-collar patrons”. Their competitive differentiation came in creating an “experience” for their customers and specializing in ambience at their locations to encourage a place where the customers would want to stay and hang out. Schultz vision was to create a “third place” (other than home and work) for its patrons to want to be.
This experience is at odds with many other cultures and the traditional coffee shop experience which provides a social nexus and central meeting place. In its selection of entry modes for foreign countries Starbucks must examine the cultural barriers that are present and determine if the Americanized Fast Food Coffee experience will align with the cultural and social needs of coffee consumers in different countries. Typically, the Non-United States entity known as Starbucks, LTD, utilizes 3 modes of entry when entering a foreign market. These include wholly-owned-subsidiary, partnerships, and licensing. Historically, Starbucks has utilized the method that matches the risk and profit return associated with market capitalization.
Starbucks offers a variety of coffee and coffee products in their retail stores and in grocery stores worldwide. Recently, Starbucks has added value to their retail stores with the expansion of their breakfast and lunch food selection, as well as with the arrival of the Starbucks Blonde Roast Coffee. Through value exploration, the avenue by which a company identifies new opportunities (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 58), Starbucks discovered there was a large group of consumers who preferred a milder roast coffee, when compared to the traditional dark roast coffees. In hopes of meeting consumer preference, the Starbucks Blonde Roast was developed and introduced as the newest brewed coffee by Starbucks. It is a “lighter, mellower roast coffee developed to meet the demands of consumers who requested that Starbucks create a lighter-roasted coffee.” According to Smyl & Edelman (2012), Brad Anderson, master roaster for Starbucks, said of Starbucks customers, “They told us they wanted a flavorful, lighter-bodied coffee that offers a milder taste and a gentle finish.
In the middle of the circular logo is a cartoon of a 'two tailed siren', which is a unique design - this makes the graphic stand out even more. The logo was in the form of a .gif (graphics interchange format) when I downloaded it from the Starbucks website, since the logo needs to be high quality; it's range of uses span from a small sized coffee cup, to huge store signs. In my opinion, the target audience for this graphic is 18 - 40 year olds, since the whole idea of 'coffee on the go' is something which would appeal to working men/women who need to save time. In addition, the logo is not particularly 'child friendly', since many younger children wouldn't be capable of reading the text - comparing the logo to say the 'McDonalds' logo which is much more simplistic and fun (yellow arches on a red background). Furthermore, I think that the use of thin white stripes close to each other to make up the siren's tail could be problematic when printing the image e.g.
Customer value proposition is leveraged around serving the coffee experience into everyday lives. Quality Coffee, great service and atmosphere combine for a completing value proposition. Working directly with growers to purchase green coffee beans, overseeing the custom-roasting process, and controlled distribution ensure a quality product. While extensive training confirms excellent customer service, clean and well-maintained worldwide stores that reflect the personalities of each community, thus building a high degree of customer loyalty. (Starbukcs Corporation, 2012) In 2010 Starbucks declared a dividend for the first time and key
Jacinda Schweitzer English Composition January 30, 2012 Starbucks Advertisement Analysis In today’s society our culture hasn’t been more visual than ever before. We take in advertisements faster than we can take in statistics and facts, but the advertisements and what they convey remain in our heads. All those visual images manipulate our societies views and the choices we make in ways never measured. Which makes the viewer ask one of the most important things, “ What is the message of this advertisement?” The Starbucks advertisement I chose makes very fine use of color. The neutral colors in the advertisement really set the mood for coffee and also the fact that it’s for Starbucks.
When Tom Standage states that "Drinks have had a closer connection to the flow history than is generally acknowledged, and a greater influence on its course", I think what he is trying to say is that a drinks power is underestimated in society. In reality, drinks make up most of society. They have paved the way for thousands of years and i don't think that people realize this. Take coffee for instance. Today we have coffee with friends, business associates, and family.
The sociological imagination can be used to explain any behaviour, and one with a sociological imagination is able to view situations from alternative points of view. For example drinking coffee. ‘Coffee is not just a refreshment. It has value as part of our day to day activities.’ (Giddens, 2009). Where the majority of people will see coffee drinking as just a beverage, others will realise the symbolism of socialisation that it holds.