The Strategy on Starbucks’Brand Building

郭靜

【Abstract】What are the secrets of the Starbucks success？ And what we can learn from Starbucks？ The thesis analyzes the brand building strategy being implemented by Starbucks. Through the detailed analysis， domestic counterparts can have a further knowledge of the fundamental cause of Starbucks success.

【Key words】 coffee； third place； brand building； experience

1.Precise Brand Market Positioning

The great success of Starbucks first benefits from its accurate market positioning. Starbucks has revolutionized the coffee business. The main marketing strategy is to define Starbucks store as a “Third Place” between home and company. This strategy provided Starbucks with a large customer base that could use Starbucks stores as a place to meet up or socialize beyond the office or home. Starbucks sells not only its coffee. It sells a rich “Starbucks experience” .

This Starbucks "experience" has been the company's selling point. The company initially targeted young college students， social classes， and neighborhoods who， they think， would be most receptive to the idea of buying a cup of coffee and spending time with friends at their stores. With rapid growth and expansion， Starbucks target market expanded rapidly to include individuals of every age. The company targeted small towns， rural communities， ethnic neighborhoods， highway rest stops， and even markets already saturated with various coffee shops. This is apparently based on a wide range of selections of drinks， pastries and other goods that it offers.？ The store offers organic chocolate milk for children， non-coffee ice blended beverages for those who dont care for coffee and fruit salad for those who are more health conscious. Anyone， in any age group， will find a drink or snack that meets his or her need.

2.Deliberate Location Strategy

The successful location strategy is a key point of Starbucks rapid development， because people will not frequently visit an inconvenient or far-distance coffee shop. To select a good location， Starbucks has set some strict standards. They aim to build up an excellent “Third Place” from the view of customers， more than a simple coffee-drinking shop. The standards are following：

Strengthen the brand image： Starbucks is distinguished for its excellent coffee， so the place they choose must consistent with their excellent brand image， for example in Jin Mao Tower or Peking International Trade Building etc.

Adequate flow of people： Starbucks not only measure the flows of people. More emphasis was put on the targeted consumers flows.

Good quality of commercial circles： based on the data of the flow of people， make a comparison with the current commercial circles of Starbucks， and then make a prediction.

Have good neighbors： It is essential to have matchable surroundings such as bookstore， boutique， office building， expos， airport， university etc.

3.Store Ambience

Starbucks look on each store as a billboard of the company and as a contributor to building the company's brand image. Each detail is taken seriously to enhance the mood and ambience of the store， making sure everything is "best of class". Besides the exquisite coffee and food， Starbucks supplies customers with on-site piano playing， classical music background from Europe or America， vogue newspapers and magazines， beautiful European ornaments and some other coffee introduction brochures together with some coffee wares for purchase.

The company does its best to make sure the store fixtures， the displays， the colors， the music， and the aromas all blended to create a consistent， stimulating and inviting environment which evokes the romance of coffee and signals the passion of Starbucks. To ensure the coffee aromas in the stores being pure， Starbucks bans smoking and requests employees not to wear perfumes. Prepared foods are kept covered so that customers will smell coffee only. Colorful banners and posters were used in keeping up with seasons and holidays and to keep the look of Starbucks stores alive.

4.The Unique Way to Build Brand Prestige

Starbucks never intended to establish a brand on purpose， It initially only planed to be a distinctive company with authentic coffee and staffs enthusiasm into coffee. There was little time for Starbucks to think over brand strategy at the beginning， because Starbucks was busy with making every cup of coffee， educating every customer to identify dark-roasted coffee. Looking back at the past， Starbucks modestly enlarged its awareness step by step， which resulted in brand prestige.

Starbucks， first of all， established brand identity in staffs mind instead of the consumers， which was opposed to some general food and beverage companies who at the first stage advertised widely and introduced how good their foods were. The people Starbucks employed are passionate and interested in coffee， once they have been trained， Starbucks could， through them， educate consumers to know what heavily-baked coffee is and set up interaction. This is the key why Starbucks could have the popularity to establish powerful brand.

5.Conclusion

As the old saying goes like：” Rome was not built in a day”. It is the same with brand building. From Starbucks brand establishment， we can see that brand marketing is a long-term process. Every detail in the process will add value to the brand. In turn， our Chinese entrepreneurs are apt to be blinded by immediate interests， having no long-term views. Actually， their success is just a flash in the pan. There is an arduous task for our domestic coffee stores to undertake and a long rough way in front of them to go. We hope that one day China has our own “Starbucks”.

【References】

[1]Keller， Kevin Lane， “Strategic brand management building， measuring， and management brand equity” China Renmin University Press 2004

[2]Viser， Matt， “Seeking Starbucks Status”， The Boston Globe， July 15，2004

[3]www.Starbucks.com