Starbucks Competitve Advantage

Starbucks competitive advantage

Initially, Starbucks used focused-differentiation in which they targeted for wealthy, educated coffee drinker which means that they targeted for a narrow market that were from the higher social levels who preferred quality goods and services. Moreover, Starbucks did not run television advertisement until 1998 or demonstrate strong marketing abilities and this strengthen the point that actually Starbucks adopted focused differentiation strategy. Later, Starbucks has changed from focused differentiation to differentiation in which they target people from all walks of life.

Under this strategy, Starbucks always stands out in providing high quality of coffee to the consumers. Starbucks also is the expert in providing other products also such as coffee bean, tea, pastries and merchandise. For the coffee beans, Starbucks showed large commitment to the quality of the beans in which only 3% of world’s beans is chosen to be packed into a bag of coffee. In order to attract larger range of customers, they tried to meet the different taste and requirement by introducing a wide variety of products. For example, House Blend which it combines three Latin America coffees into one brew. Starbucks also introduced the drinks especially for kids likes caramel apple spice, cold apple juice and so on.

Not only Starbucks wants their customer to satisfy over their products but also to have an unforgettable coffeehouse experiences in terms of customer service, ambience and the recognition of people over their corporate value. For customer service, Starbucks places high priorities on it. For instance, for entry-level baristas, they must get 24 hours training and Starbucks even has closed its stores nationwide for 5 hours just to train its employees. Starbucks also stresses on the importance of ambience. The music hear in store is chosen for its artistry and appeal. From the aspects of corporate value, Starbucks also promotes ethical sourcing,...