Starbucks Marketing Analysis

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 Marketing Strategies of Starbucks

Veronica Cruz, Deborah Owo, Ariel Thomas, Brooke White

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Table of Contents

Executive Summary (Veronica Cruz)        

Situation Analysis (Deborah Owo)        4

Industry Sector Description        4

SWOT Analysis        5

Target Market Analysis (Ariel Thomas)        6

Marketing Mix (Brooke White)        8

Product Strategy (Product Mix)        8

Pricing Strategy        8

Distribution Plan        8

Promotional Message        9

Media Plan        9

Promotion & Advertising Plan        9

Positioning Strategy        10

Competitive Analysis (Brooke White)        10

Challenges / Contingency Plan (Deborah Owo)        11

Internal and External Risks        11

How Risks will be Avoided and Actions When Risks Occur        12

Recommendations (Veronica Cruz)        12

Growth Plan (Veronica Cruz)        12

Conclusion        13

References        14

Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………...17

Executive Summary

Starbucks is known throughout the world for its exceptional coffee products and are generally considered to have revolutionized the coffee business. Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegal, and Gordon Bowker founded the first Starbucks store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1971 (Starbucks, Inc., 2014). It began as a retailer of some of the world’s finest whole beans and ground coffee. The book Moby Dick inspired the name; “Starbuck” was the chief mate in the novel.

In 1982 Howard Shultz (Starbucks’ chairman, president, and chief executive officer) joined the company. A year later he traveled to Italy where he was captivated by their coffee bars and affection for coffee. His vision was to bring the coffeehouse atmosphere to the United States. He successfully convinced the founding fathers to experiment the coffeehouse concept, which proved to be worthwhile. He left Starbucks to open his own coffeehouse however a short time later with the help of some investors he returned to purchase Starbucks.