Reflective Blog Post: Starbucks coffee company
The company that our group investigated is Starbucks Inc.
During the group project, I have the chance to better understand the world largest coffee company. We concluded several factors that make Starbucks succeed. In this case, I was really inspired by the power of culture. When I do the marketing research, I found an interesting thing that the cost that Starbucks spent on advertising is zero. They don’t spend money on advertising. Even through, when we see the signature green on the street, we know it is Starbucks. The indirect marketing strategy that locates its stores on every street corner servers them “free” advertising. The competition in coffee market has always been intense, especially in North America.
However, Starbucks not only successes in North America which has coffee-loving culture; they also got a great success opening the market in Asian. For example, in some Asian countries; as we all know, people in China and Japan has tea-drinking culture. Then how Starbucks gains the favor of customers in those countries?
I think the most important factor is the culture. People choose Starbucks not because they serve the best coffee in the world. People are not go to Starbucks to consume a cup of drink, what they really like is the Starbucks’s culture, the unique style and environment in their store. Starbucks is selling and spreading their culture to young adults, a lifestyle. When Starbucks enter a new country, such as china, they made few change for Chinese customers, they made special drinks, which only served in the country. In this way they show the respect to different culture while transmit their concept.
In this case, I’ve learnt that if a company want to be succeed worldwide, how to suit different culture is always the key issue to be solve, which makes marketing research very important.
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