Starbucks first opened their doors on March 31, 1971 in Seattle Washington at the Pike Place Market. Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker are the cofounders of the globally successful coffee company that millions have grown to love. Over the past 45 years Starbucks has become one of the top ranking coffee companies in the world. With over 24,000 stores located in 70 different counties, Starbucks only continues to grow at a non-stop rate.
So the question is what is Starbucks plan for the future?
The article, “Let’s Look at Starbucks’ Growth Strategy” written by Trefis Team, focuses on seven strategies that Starbucks could possibly use in order to increase their growth. The three strategies that I believe would be most effective are elevating the coffee experience, driving the at home demand for coffee and lastly, establishing new partnerships.
I believe that the most effective growth strategy would be to elevate the coffee shop experience. In today’s society, brand imaging plays a key factor in a successful business. In order to have a positive brand image one must also create an effective value proposition that is able to identity’s customer benefits and link these benefits to mechanisms for delivering value.
Another strategy that could increase Starbucks’ growth is driving the at home demand for their products. This would entail growing the consumer product goods departments which mainly consists of K-Cups and packaged coffee. When it comes to K-Cups Starbucks has remained number one. They have partnerships with companies such as Pepsi in Latin America, Tingyi in China, and Anheuser-Busch, thus making an effort to expand its ready-to-drink segment.
Food sales currently represents 20% of Starbucks’ total revenue. As stated in Axelle’s Blog establishing new partners in the food industry will allow the company to enlarge their menu. By establishing new partners and making stronger connects Starbucks’ presents itself with the opportunity to access new knowledge, new people, increase effectiveness, increase efficiency, increase reputation and credibility, human resource development and long-term stability and impact.
It seems as though Starbucks has created a differentiation strategy in hopes of increasing their sales and global presence. The three strategies that I believed were best suited for Starbucks’ tend to intertwine and help each other to succeed, which helps the company grow.
http://www.coffee.org/History-of-Starbucks-2010
https://blogs.ubc.ca/axelafortune/2016/10/02/starbucks-growth-strategies/
http://marketrealist.com/2014/12/starbucks-seven-growth-strategies/
