Starbucks, one of the largest coffeehouse in the world, has filed a trademark as “Fizzio” for its trials of launching carbonated drinks.

From analyzing such a case by Porter’s Five Forces, Starbucks’ action can be categorized as a differentiation of products due to increasing rivals. The saturating coffee market will bring about the pressure of close competition from rivals; the competition among Blenz, Tim Hortons, and etc. will be markedly fierce. Furthermore, a large number of firms also slows down market growth, in that firms are having a hard time fighting for market share.To prevent from being stifled once the market of coffee-related drinks becomes saturated, Starbucks utilize its unique and powerful brand identity and opened up many new opportunities.

However, such a seemingly beneficial proposal is hard to put into action. In terms of value proposition, people regard Starbucks as a brand of coffee, and it would be hard for them to link that conception to carbonated drinks. While Starbucks wants to diversify its value proposition to step into a relatively unsaturated/undeveloped market,its strong value proposition has branded in customers’ mind. In order to expand the market, Starbucks may have to put extra effort into marketing its new products.