Starbucks Case

Starbucks buys and roasts premium whole bean coffees and markets them along with original, Italian espresso beverages, a mixture of pastries and other bakeries, and products of coffee and tools. All of those products reach the hands of the customers through its Starbucks operated retail stores. Starbucks do not offer any franchises for general public. All of its stores are company owned or joint ventured. Starbucks joint venture only if the market is not accessible to them without partnering up like university campuses.

Other then the Starbucks operated retail stores; the company offers whole bean coffees through big retails and supermarkets. Also, Starbucks makes and offers its customers bottled Frappuccino coffee drink and a line of high quality ice creams through its joint venture partnerships and presents a line of high quality teas created by its completely owned sister company which is Tazo Tea Company.

The Company's goal is to have its customers, stockholders and investors recognize Starbucks as the most established and appreciated brand in the word. In order to reach this objective, Starbucks needs to grow on so that the company can quickly increase the number of retail shops, produces its specialty sales and other operations. They also carefully come up with new product ideas and innovative new products.

As far as the competitors of Starbucks go in this aggressive coffee industry, other coffee sellers are keeping up with Starbucks by being innovative according to the needs of their customers and potential clients and protecting the environment as well as they can. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, for example, their headquarters are in Waterbury, VT. This company is a competitor to Starbucks and they sell organic coffee to please its customers and this company’s sales are growing rapidly. Green Mountain's sales of its organic products increased up to 51 percent in 2005. Also, they try to find more techniques to beat the competition. While this company is going green, Starbucks also has been trying to serve organic products on its menu. It is very important to realize the increasing environmental problems in the world along with how much difference it makes when it comes to the loyalty and repeat business of the customers to a certain company because of their side on environmental issues.

Another competitor Caribou Coffee for example, creates a lifestyle for its customers with their slogan “Life is short. Stay awake for it.” These kinds of approaches in order to catch the attention of potential customers for their brand shows us that offering a lifestyle and establishing a visual of your company helps to increase your market share. Even though Starbucks have been creating this on the eyes of its customers, it is crucial for the company to keep up with it and find more than one way to attract more customers based on its customer’s tastes, lifestyles and