The future of the starbucks brand
In 2013, Starbucks opened its first store on a train, thus signifying its expansion beyond the traditional vision of the local coffee shop third-place that it had devoted its early years to creating Nowadays, Starbucks already exists worldwide on nearly every street corner. Yet, Starbucks is constantly searching for newfound markets and target customers in order to expand beyond its successful reach to customers desiring the comfort of a convenient, friendly coffee shop. In this case, it targeted commuters on the train to work who now had their coffee brought to them.
As stated by Starbucks vice president for design Bill Sleeth, “It’s all about us meeting our customers where they are in their day.” Moreover, the company has suggested that their expansion represents a conscious decision beyond just gaining more customers by going to where they are. Instead, Starbucks has begun to implement a deliberate strategy to make the dominating, omnipresent store less “brand-y” and more diverse by individual store.
Starbucks has definitively reached farfetched global dominion, in terms of number of stores, customers, and countries served, they now must focus on gaining more customers by making their brand even more comfortable and familiar by appealing to local cultures, ideals, and interests. The company’s current objective, therefore, is to use good, effective design as a method of establishing diversity between stores and targeting specific rather than general markets.
This form of “intense customization” requires a specific form of “design thinking” that diverges from the previous effort to open as many forms of store as possible using a form of architectural “kit” to get the stores opened quickly and easily. Instead, store designers focused on designing local by absorbing themselves into the community that the specific store aimed to serve. Consequently, through these efforts to insert themselves into a specific culture in order to most successfully target customer, Starbucks has demonstrated its dedication to addressing specific customer needs and the unique way a particular set of customer may want to interact with the brand. This form of store customization based on the target customer and market can be seen even within Stanford and its surrounding areas as demonstrated in our previous section on Store Design.
Customers' and opponents primary criticism with Starbucks is that it is too mainstream and uniform across stores, and Starbucks has thus developed into a brand that many people love to hate. This love/hate relationship exploded when, this February, a comedian opened a "Dumb Starbucks" parody coffee shop in Los Angeles. This "Dumb Starbucks" appeared exactly like most Starbucks stores--both in store design and the drinks sold. Starbucks' main issue that spurs such hatred, mockery, and envy is simply the fact that it has been so successful in establishing a global empire based on commodifying the concept of a local coffee shop and turning it into a cultural necessity. Not only does Starbucks turn over impressive profits that would make any neighborhood coffee shop jealous and scared of domination, but the company also has become a mainstream brand that cultural iconoclasts scapegoat as the beacon of "evil" capitalization.
As stated by Starbucks vice president for design Bill Sleeth, “It’s all about us meeting our customers where they are in their day.” Moreover, the company has suggested that their expansion represents a conscious decision beyond just gaining more customers by going to where they are. Instead, Starbucks has begun to implement a deliberate strategy to make the dominating, omnipresent store less “brand-y” and more diverse by individual store.
Starbucks has definitively reached farfetched global dominion, in terms of number of stores, customers, and countries served, they now must focus on gaining more customers by making their brand even more comfortable and familiar by appealing to local cultures, ideals, and interests. The company’s current objective, therefore, is to use good, effective design as a method of establishing diversity between stores and targeting specific rather than general markets.
This form of “intense customization” requires a specific form of “design thinking” that diverges from the previous effort to open as many forms of store as possible using a form of architectural “kit” to get the stores opened quickly and easily. Instead, store designers focused on designing local by absorbing themselves into the community that the specific store aimed to serve. Consequently, through these efforts to insert themselves into a specific culture in order to most successfully target customer, Starbucks has demonstrated its dedication to addressing specific customer needs and the unique way a particular set of customer may want to interact with the brand. This form of store customization based on the target customer and market can be seen even within Stanford and its surrounding areas as demonstrated in our previous section on Store Design.
Customers' and opponents primary criticism with Starbucks is that it is too mainstream and uniform across stores, and Starbucks has thus developed into a brand that many people love to hate. This love/hate relationship exploded when, this February, a comedian opened a "Dumb Starbucks" parody coffee shop in Los Angeles. This "Dumb Starbucks" appeared exactly like most Starbucks stores--both in store design and the drinks sold. Starbucks' main issue that spurs such hatred, mockery, and envy is simply the fact that it has been so successful in establishing a global empire based on commodifying the concept of a local coffee shop and turning it into a cultural necessity. Not only does Starbucks turn over impressive profits that would make any neighborhood coffee shop jealous and scared of domination, but the company also has become a mainstream brand that cultural iconoclasts scapegoat as the beacon of "evil" capitalization.
Brand guru and former marketing director of both Starbucks and Nike, Scott Bedbury, describes this opposition by saying, "There has always been a thin line between love and hate. It's a far better thing than living in the middle where most brands fade away." There may be a group of individuals who find it in-vogue and anti-establishment to criticize the dominance of the global brand, but the fact remains that Starbucks is a definitive facet of current culture--known to nearly all first-world individuals and with an incredibly expansive following of loyal customers.
Not only has Starbucks recognized this criticism, but they also have taken deliberate measures to incorporate locality in order to improve the comfort of the coffee shop culture. Starbucks redesigned the idea of the coffee shop by establishing an accessible, mainstream third-place and making the coffee shop experience an affordable luxury. In the future, they will further innovate on their concept of the comforting coffee shop by focusing further on local cultures and diversity by store. Starbucks' success has never been about the coffee, it has been about the experience.
Not only has Starbucks recognized this criticism, but they also have taken deliberate measures to incorporate locality in order to improve the comfort of the coffee shop culture. Starbucks redesigned the idea of the coffee shop by establishing an accessible, mainstream third-place and making the coffee shop experience an affordable luxury. In the future, they will further innovate on their concept of the comforting coffee shop by focusing further on local cultures and diversity by store. Starbucks' success has never been about the coffee, it has been about the experience.
I think we have managed to, with a simple cup of coffee and a very unique experience, enhance the lives of millions of people by re-creating a sense of community, by bringing people together and recognizing the importance of place in people’s lives.
-Howard Shultz, Starbucks Company CEO
Bibliography
1) http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/starbucks-big-plan-to-be-your-cozy-neighborhood-coffee-shop/
2) http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/425098?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=starbucks&searchText=design&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dstarbucks%2Bdesign%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff
3) http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/11/starbucks-brands-dumb-starbucks/5399351/
4) http://www.weeklystandard.com/keyword/Everything-But-the-Coffee
1) http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/starbucks-big-plan-to-be-your-cozy-neighborhood-coffee-shop/
2) http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/425098?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=starbucks&searchText=design&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dstarbucks%2Bdesign%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff
3) http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/11/starbucks-brands-dumb-starbucks/5399351/
4) http://www.weeklystandard.com/keyword/Everything-But-the-Coffee