Marketing 304 Starbucks Case

Starbucks

1. In reading various articles I came across in the libraries database concerning Starbucks segway into “blonde roast” coffee it is very apparent that Starbucks is trying to appeal to more customers. I say this because like in the video shown in class about starbucks and in the article Starbucks Unveils Blonde Roast Coffee customers complain about the coffee being too strong and bitter, and so Starbucks is coming short to competitors who sell a lighter coffee blend. I believe Starbucks also came out with the “blonde roast” because it wanted to open itself to the individuals who buy their coffee from their grocery store. As said in "Starbucks Unveils Blonde Roast Coffee," more than 70 percent of total premium coffee sales in grocery stores are of light- and medium-roast coffee.” Starbucks wasn’t satisfied with success in the States it wanted to expand even further to Canada, where the article, Starbucks Marks Success of Starbucks(R) Blonde Roast Coffee in Canada, says “Canadians drink twice as much Blonde Roast coffee as Americans.” To say it simply Starbucks was trying to reach out to a bigger pool of people. They were trying to segment the individuals who were not interested in the strong and bitter blends they already had but a lighter softer one, because not everyone likes the same thing. With this new segmentations they could now target more people like the 70 percent of the grocery store customers and the Canadians who drink more blonde roast than Americans do. In the article Introducing Starbucks® Blonde Roast, the Newest Addition to our Coffee Family, Starbucks promotes is blonde roast by showing that they are appealing to every kind of person.

2. In class we watched a few commercials, some from Dunkin donuts and others from Starbucks, the main topics addressed were the pricing and the taste differences. With Starbucks bringing out the “blonde roast” line of blends it seems that they are listening to their customers, but why haven't they...