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Branding
by Deborah Brown on October 26, 2006
1. At a recent chamber lunch, the speaker, Leslie Ungar, Electric Impulse, asked the question, "What does Starbucks sell?" The topic of her speech was "Finding Your Competitive Edge" and so although we wanted to yell out "coffee" we knew that probably wasn't the right answer. "They sell the Starbucks Experience," she told us. People go to Starbucks for the experience of sitting in comfortable chairs, reading the paper, being seen by the who's who of your town and, oh by the way, drinking a cup of wickedly strong, outrageously expensive coffee. If they just sold coffee, would they be able to get $4 a pop? Nope. So Starbucks is selling an experience.
2. So then I'm attending my son's first Swing Choir performance of the year and at the reception following I run into a father of one of the kids. He had a life altering experience that caused him to move to another city and I was anxious to see how he was. "What have you been doing?" I asked. "Working at Starbucks." He seems to enjoy the experience but recently worked at a brand new store that has a drive up window. He was appalled at the addition of the window. "It takes away from the experience," he told me. "It makes us just another fast food chain."
Well, I thought, I wonder if the President knows.
3. So then I'm reading the latest Fortune Magazine and in the regular column "First How I Work" who is featured? Jim Donald, CEO and President of Starbucks.
Freaky, isn't it?
Joe details how he spent his time in July:
11% strategic thinking
17% Meeting with employees
28% visiting stores and roasting plants
44% talking with direct reports
When traveling he'll visit 10 stores in a day.
I must say, having worked for many presidents at Pearle Vision over 20 years, I have never known a President/CEO to be that in touch with his stores and his customers.
So how long before he gets the message that a Starbucks drive through takes away from the Starbucks Experience.
OR DOES IT? That's where you come in. What do you think Starbucks is selling? I'm sure you've been there, heck, you might be one of the regulars.
Why do you buy from Starbucks?
Take it one step further - why do your customers buy from you????
Permalink: What Does Starbucks Sell?
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Vote for What Does Starbucks Sell?:
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Rating: 8.20 out of 5 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Jay
(12/25/06 5:58pm)
Response from:
rama
(08/23/07 2:02am)
I never feel at all in my life, its really great coffee n nice please to fine any culture of people around me,I can shear everything about"starbucks Experience, so I fell like my second home, I can talk everything even I know how old they are,where they leaving, n name of they son, every thing,I feel real barista in Indonesia north Sumatra, thank you very much Starbucks.
Response from:
matt
(01/13/09 9:27am)
Starbucks sells an image and the experience. Like a movie theatre that sells you a $6 20oz. cola, they are selling you on the experience and not necessarily on their product. Starbucks began by offering authentic beans and the freshest coffee, they used beans that were imported rather than the leftovers (like Folgers or Maxwell house). At that time, there was no competition, no one else in that market could offer the same quality as Starbucks in 1971.
That was a great step up in the coffee industry from when coffee debuted in the great depression. People did drink it as a substitute for eating because it was cheap and gave you temporary energy for working, it also helped in keeping you alert.
Now, Starbucks competes with the other brands in price and not so much in taste. People are in hard times again and a $6 Mocha Frappachino is getting a little more difficult to compare to a $1.50 Dunking Donuts cup-o-joe.
That was a great step up in the coffee industry from when coffee debuted in the great depression. People did drink it as a substitute for eating because it was cheap and gave you temporary energy for working, it also helped in keeping you alert.
Now, Starbucks competes with the other brands in price and not so much in taste. People are in hard times again and a $6 Mocha Frappachino is getting a little more difficult to compare to a $1.50 Dunking Donuts cup-o-joe.
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I also go to Starbucks on weekdays norming in the middle of my crazy schedule to "quickly" fetch a cup of coffee. The reason I do that is because Starbucks is associated with coffee - it is a coffee shop. The convenience store right in the building sells coffee too, but somehow I do not associate that store with quality, reputed coffee. I definitely agree with you that Starbucks experience is a major crowd puller to their stores, but more than that they say "we are a coffee shop, we specialize in coffee"