Starbucks: Delivering on Service

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1. Success Factors Starbucks extraordinary success in the early 1990s can be attributed to its dedication to quality, the service experience, and both customer and employee satisfaction. The company was highly involved with its coffee bean suppliers from growth to roasting process to distribution in order to ensure premium quality for its consumers. Additionally their focus on the atmosphere and presentation of the each store – not just as a coffee shop but as a place to relax, lounge, and “hang out” at – attracted loyal customers and added to consumers’ experience. Tying into the service experience is how Starbucks’ philosophy that happy employees lead to better customer service and therefore happy customers as well. Starbucks valued both customer and employee input, treating every employee as a “partner”, not just a part-time worker – which made up most of their work force. Starbucks’ commitment to these factors and desired brand image, as a place that brings a sense of community, did not align with how they were being perceived by consumers due to lack of strategic marketing and limited advertising. The Starbucks of 1992 was a fresh concept, a lot simpler in terms of service processes, and a much smaller retail chain. Today Starbucks can be found almost everywhere and there are other competitors that use the same idea of creating an experience for customers. Furthermore by wanting to cater to consumers (i.e. custom drinks), Starbucks sacrificed efficiency and speed of its service which ironically also led to customer dissatisfaction. The Starbucks customer of 1992 was affluent, well-educated, white-collar, and generally female between the ages of 25 and 44. Now, since Starbucks has expanded to many metropolitan areas – some of which are very diverse in population – the Starbuck customer profile has changed. In 2002, newer customers were typically younger, less

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