Marketing Mix of Starbucks Essay

The Starbucks Corporation with its logo on all of its shop fronts, coffee cups and bottles of beverages is a seller of the Starbucks Experience – a high quality combination of the products sold at Starbucks coffee shops and customer service provided thereat (“Starbucks Coffee Company;” See Appendix for Starbucks logo). The products sold at Starbucks coffee shops include “brewed coffees, espresso beverages, cold blended beverages, food items, teas, branded coffee drinks, a line of ice creams… pastries, sodas, juices, games, seasonal novelty items, and coffee-related accessories and equipment” (“Starbucks Firm Analysis”).

The Starbucks Corporation also sells roasted “whole bean coffees” to hotels and grocery stores around the world (“Starbucks Firm Analysis”). Prices of Starbucks products tend to be lower than prices charged by “specialty competition” (“Starbucks Firm Analysis”). Regular coffee is four percent cheaper at Starbucks and cold blended drinks are thirty percent cheaper. However, as compared to quick-service eateries, for example, Dunkin Donuts, the products of Starbucks are more expensive (“Starbucks Firm Analysis”).

For promotion, the Starbucks Corporation relies on advertising, public relations, seasonal offers, in addition to free tasting of new products (“Starbucks Coffee Company”). The company creates advertisements to use in all countries where its coffee shops are

located. Typically located on high streets and in high traffic areas, for example, in shopping malls and close to office buildings and college campuses, Starbucks nevertheless aims to attract both high and low income customers (“Starbucks Coffee Company;” “Starbucks Firm Analysis”). There are plenty of Starbucks coffee shops located in rural areas to boot.

Additionally, Starbucks has nearly seven hundred drive-through restaurants covering all fifty states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Thirty four countries in the world also enjoy the presence of Starbucks Coffee Shops (“Starbucks Firm Analysis”).

References Starbucks Coffee Company. Retrieved Mar 1, 2009, from http://learning. north. londonmet. ac. uk/mkp009/Pres’ns0405/Starbucks%20Coffe%20Company. ppt. Starbucks Firm Analysis. Retrieved Mar 1, 2009, from http://classes. bus. oregonstate. edu/Summer-05/ba469/Elton/Sector%20Analysis/Starbucks_compiled. ppt. Appendix