Starbucks marketing plan

The marketing plan of a new Starbucks coffee shop includes key aspects: first of all, it’s positioning and basic characteristics; characteristics of potential customers; and then we must determine the main aspects of marketing strategy such as product, price, promotion. Studying the brand Starbucks, we can distinguish three main factors that ensured the success of Starbucks: a clear positioning, trained competent staff, and expansion.
Positioning
“Visiting a Starbucks, you get more than the best coffee – you get the perfect society, first-class music, and cozy and lively meeting place”. (Schultz, 2011)
Schultz as the founder has always worked to ensure that his coffee shops combined experience of all five senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing and vision (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004).
Starbucks coffee shops attract customers with some exceptional characteristics, such as special aroma of premium coffee in the shop (while it is forbidden to smoke and drink alcoholic beverages, and the staff is not advisable to use perfume). The next important point is pleasant music, which you can hear in every Starbucks coffee shop around the world. And the last, what the visitor values in Starbucks, is its special atmosphere. In addition to flavor, pleasant music, and taste of coffee in the cup, there is a special cozy interior with an emphasis on comfort, which is expressed in lighting, color tones, the arrangement of furniture and other things. (Michelli, 2006)
Thanks to all this, Starbucks is positioned as a place to relax after work, alone or with friends, to have breakfast before you go to work; to cheer or to discuss business issues with colleges; to work in a cozy atmosphere with a cup of coffee. A strong brand, which covers the five senses, attracts the target audience to Starbucks.
Product
Starbucks offers an exceptionally tasty coffee from coffee beans of highest quality, and drinks of expensive Arabica, which gave the drink a stronger taste. Starbucks set a premium price for coffee: one cup cost up to $ 3.5. Here clearly works quality-price ratio: for a quality product you pay a greater money. In addition, the taste of coffee is not the only pleasure at Starbucks, as in coffee shops you are offered not just a cup of coffee and cappuccino, espresso, mocha, latte, and frappuchino – a special drink of Starbucks. Moreover, the order may be strictly individual, that is, the visitor can choose the size of portions, ingredients type (regular or skim milk), or any constituent drink.
Price
Pricing policy is aimed at consumers with middle-income. In the analysis of pricing must be considered:
– cost of goods;
competitors’ prices for similar goods or goods substitutes
prices set in other Starbucks coffee shops.
Pricing will be based on the principle that the price must cover all costs. The main advantage of this method of pricing lies in its simplicity. Based on the objectives and marketing strategies, as well as the elasticity of demand, pricing will be implemented by the “cost + profit” in view of the anticipated demand and behavior of competitors. So, the prices on all products will be calculated based on the level of demand, level of costs and target profit.
Promotion
Promotion is one of the major activities by which it is necessary to inform potential users about opening a new cafe. The brand name and image of Starbucks is a good basis for promotion company. At the initial stage of development of coffee shop will be used the original advertisement, which aims to introduce potential customers with a new Starbucks cafe, by providing detailed information about the quality, price, location of the coffee shop. Such advertising is aimed to persuade consumers to visit the cafe.
During the development of a cafe we will use the competitive advertising, which focuses on selection of Starbucks cafe from masses of similar places. It will be necessary to make emphasis on characteristics of its advantages (experience of all five senses, highest quality of coffee, etc.) and encouraging consumers to visit this particular cafe.
For advertising will be used the following methods:
• advertising in the media (especially in newspapers);
• Print advertising;
• advertising on television;
• radio advertising;
• Outdoor advertising.
In the advertising company we will include the creation of the image, that is, creating the best possible positive and modern image of the new cafe, which meets the highest requirements of consumers. The main elements of the image of the cafe are:
– The best and high quality coffee;
– A culture of service;
– The culture of its design and its geographical location;
– The image of a cafe and staff qualifications
special cozy atmosphere, etc.
But the most productive form of advertising is “word-of-mouth”, given by a client to other people (relatives, friends). If the client is satisfied with the work of the coffee shop, he will always come back with friends. So the main emphasis should be made not only on creation of positive image, but to meet the high requirements of the Starbucks coffee shop, which are so popular among visitors around the world.