Introduction
- Starbucks has decided to expand and win over the Abu Dhabi market.
- With the help of the groundbreaking technology of capsule coffee, Starbucks has managed to stir the public once again.
- However, Starbucks is likely to face an opponent.
- Over the past few years, Nespresso has been providing the Abu Dhabi citizens with capsule coffee (Sicard n.p.).
- To win the competition, Starbucks will have to develop a new strategy.
To win the competition, Starbucks will have to:
- Define its advantages;
- Conceal its disadvantages;
- Use the grounded theory to develop further strategy;
- Market capsule coffee to several target audiences.
Starbucks vs. Nespresso
- Starbucks:
- Is unknown in Adu Dhabi.
- Offers capsules 9 gram capsules.
- Rises the price compared to Nespresso.
- Has a larger variety of capsule products (espresso, latte, filter coffee, Americano, etc.).
- Nespresso:
- Has already been represented in the Abu Dhabi market.
- Sells coffee in 7 grams capsules (2 grams less than Starbucks).
- Has been using the specified capsule approach several years running.
- Is cheaper than Starbucks.
Starbucks and Its Image: What the Company Strives for
- Current Image:
- New company with little experience in Abu Dhabi;
- Nespresso’s key rival;
- Expensive; therefore, less marketable than Nespresso;
- Offers many services, which might be seen as redundant
- Desired Image:
- New and promising company in Abu Dhabi;
- Superior to Nespresso;
- Expensive; therefore, better than Nespresso;
- Offers a variety of exotic types of coffee worth trying.
Choosing the Research Method: Grounded Theory
- Designing a questionnaire:
- What people like about Starbucks;
- What people dislike about Starbucks;
- What people like about other companies;
- What people would like to see Starbucks.
- Analyzing the answers:
- Specifying the customers’ preferences;
- Identifying the types of customers;
- Classifying the customers’ demands according to their subject.
- Providing the solutions:
- Coming up with a theory based on the obtained results;
- Developing the methods to meet these preferences;
- Developing the means to stress Starbucks’ uniqueness.
Target Audience: Designing an Adequate Approach
- Business people: a quick cup of decent coffee.
- Families: a leisurely coffee.
- Students: a quick and cheap coffee break.
- Middle + third class: a quick cup of cheap coffee.
- First class: luxurious, rare and expensive coffee.
The Means to Attract the Target Audience:
- Business people: stressing the fast service and the coffee quality (Black 268).
- Families: offering discounts and advertising the idea of coziness (Oxford Business Group 236).
- Students: developing a flexible system of discounts (Derby 67).
- Middle + third class: offering discounts (Koning 128).
- First class: offering exclusive coffee (Kopi Luwak, etc.).
Analysis of Starbucks Consumers
Teenagers seem to be the audience that consumes coffee the most.
The Starbucks coffee, however, is generally preferred by business people.
Categories of Audiences
- Primary:
- Business people (having a quick cup of coffee).
- Students (having a quick and relatively cheap cup of coffee).
- Secondary:
- Families
- Children (cappuccinos, cocoa drinks, hot chocolate, etc.).
- Key Decision Makers (KDM):
- Focus groups (testing the product and comparing its qualities).
- Gatekeepers:
- Coffee elitists: help define the coffee quality.
Research Method: A Survey
- For a professional.
- For a consumer.
Interview Themes
- For an average client:
- The situations in which the respondent consumes coffee.
- A comparison between Starbucks coffee capsules and Nespresso ones.
- The respondent’s choice of a setting in which the coffee is consumed.
- For a professional:
- The advantages and disadvantages of Starbucks coffee capsules.
- The most and the least promising choice of flairs for Starbucks coffee capsules.
- The taste and aftertaste of Starbucks coffee in capsules.
- Expectations:
- Exotic tastes and original flair;
- Homelike, cozy atmosphere;
- Comfortable use of capsules;
- Fast and efficient services;
- Customized approach;
- Relatively low prices and a flexible pricing policy.
- Achieving expectations:
- Taste: experimenting with the flavors and using unusual combinations;
- Services: training the hired staff and using efficient HRM strategy.
- Customers: providing wide choice and offering time-savers (e.g., a journal (teenagers), a cigarette (adults), a token toy (children).
- Prices: providing seasonal discounts for the clients, etc.
Suggestions
- Company Focus:
- Business people and students as target audience;
- Families as the next most obvious target group;
- Children (cocktails, hot chocolate, cocoa, etc.; perhaps, offering a token toy).
- Company Strategies:
- Attracting all types of audience;
- Stressing Starbucks’s advantages;
- Avoiding mentioning the rivals;
- Promoting a legend together with coffee (e.g. cozy atmosphere and family values).
Questionnaire Topics for the Qualitative Study
- The capsule coffee that the target audience prefers most (favorite brand, type, etc.);
- The quality of Starbucks capsule coffee compared to the Nespresso’s one (weaknesses, strengths, e.g., taste, brewing time, aftertaste, price, etc.);
- The frequency of and the occasions for drinking the Starbucks coffee, perhaps, compared to other brands (e.g., every morning, every week, waiting in line for the hairdresser, during a flight, etc.);
- The reasons for drinking Starbucks coffee (e.g., to stop feeling sleepy, as a part of the routine breakfast, because the friends).
Works Cited
Black, Ken. Business Statistics: Contemporary decision Making. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.
Derby, Gerard. Coffee and Health. London, UK: John Libbey Eurotext, 1994. Print.
Koning, Anouk de. Global dreams: Class, Gender, and Public Space in Cosmopolitan Cairo. New York, NY: The American University Press, 2009. Print.
Oxford Business Group. The Report: Abu Dhabi 2010. Oxford, UK: Oxford Business Group.
Sicard, Marie-Claude. Brand Revolution: Rethinking Brand identity. London, UK: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013. Print.