Starbucks Case Study PDF

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Starbucks Case Study Starbucks started out as a small coffee shop in Seattle which was opened by Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Ziev Siegl in 1971. One year later, Howard Schulz joined the team, and a few years later bought the company from the founders. Schulz immediately started opening more stores once he took over the company, opening 140 stores by 1992. Starbucks target market started out with well-educated, white collar patrons between the ages of 25-44. After making the company public, Schulz raised $25 million, allowing him to open even more stores in the U.S. By 2002, Starbucks has over 2,000 stores with over 20 million customers worldwide, continuing to open more stores every day. Although Starbucks had a successful startup, they had a few key issues. Their main problem was that they weren’t meeting customer expectations in their customer service. They struggled with customer service because some customer drink orders are complicated which takes time to make, taking their time away from other customers or responsibilities. In addition, they did not have a strategic marketing group or a chief marketing officer. This is because before becoming extremely popular, Starbucks didn’t have to use many advertisements. Because of this, they had a lack of leadership in their marketing and this took away people form their assigned jobs to come up with marketing strategies as well. Their speed of service was below the customers’ expectations and therefore caused some issues for the company’s customer satisfaction. There are some clear solutions to these issues Starbucks was having. Obviously, if Starbucks main issue was their complex drink orders, it would make sense to get rid of some of their complicated drinks on their menu. However, Starbucks is most popular for their handcrafted and unique beverages, so that wasn’t their best option. I think the most rational suggestion would be to hire more baristas to work at a time so that multiple baristas can be making drinks while others are taking orders as well, in order to keep the customers satisfied. It will also help to make sure very barista has gone through very specific training and has mastered each beverage on the menu. By having multiple baristas working at once, Starbucks will more likely be able to achieve their goal of getting customers their drinks three minutes after they order. In addition, Starbucks should establish a strategic marketing group for their company in order to get customers opinions to gain the customer satisfaction they need. Starbucks making these changes can help them to keep their customers satisfied and coming back which is their main goal. I think that if Starbucks can make these changes, they will be able to be successful and keep their customers happy. Since Starbucks main concern is to keep their customers happy and coming back, it is important to tailor to their coffee needs. By doing this, their customers will become loyal to the company and gain trust in them. It’s also very important for a company like Starbucks to have a strategic marketing group to help get their customers opinions and to market towards certain groups of people. Doing this will help Starbucks become more popular and make every customer a loyal customer....