Marketing Mix of Starbucks
One of the most recognizable brands in the world, Starbucks brand recognition has reached epic heights. All thanks to their great marketing effort that they have put in and their commitment to keeping their brand consistent.
It is this effort that when got mixed with the company’s right marketing mix, compounded the awareness and the equity of the brand.
Let’s check out the Marketing Mix of Starbucks and how it served as the main ingredient in the brand’s success.
What is the Marketing Mix of Starbucks?
Unlike the normal product companies which have 4 P’s of Marketing Mix, Starbucks being in the service sector has 7P’s of Marketing Mix
It’s not just the coffee that they charge you for, it’s the superlative coffee experience
Coffee, Tea, Pastries, Smoothies etc is not just what Starbucks offers to its customers, its the superior coffee experience that Starbucks sells to its customers.
Starbucks has made sure to keep the experiential aspect of the brand consistent in all their stores across the world.
It’s not just the superior coffee drinking experience that you get, Starbucks also provide high-quality coffee/products to get their customers to justify buying it.
You’re paying for premium coffee which means it needs to taste better than the same iced macchiato that you could get at a McDonald’s drive-through for less.
Remember the Starbucks Barista promise! – It was Starbuck’s confidence in its product that they openly came out with white Starbucks hot-beverage cup that said, “Love your beverage or let us know. We’ll always make it right.”
Starbucks uses the premium pricing strategy to sell their coffee, or at least 25% higher than value brands. The premium pricing strategy is backed up by the premium quality products which targets premium segment mainly.
Starbucks provides great product quality as well as superb customer service and so its customers do not mind paying a bit higher prices.
However, Starbucks does not just sell coffee but an entire experience that is knit around the idea of luxury. The Starbucks experience is entirely exclusive in itself and complements its pricing strategy and this is what has helped the brand sustain its premium image.
Read anything about Starbucks, and they’ll probably mention the idea of “the third place.” Their efforts to create a space where people want to come and hang out and relax. They do this by creating a similar environment at every Starbucks location.
Consistency is the key – In today’s world, brand’s are facing the trouble of creating communication that stands out in a cluttered media landscape. And to do so brands try different things to capture human attention.
This is where the brands falter – They create inconsistency in their communication and brand elements.
On the contrary, it’s Starbucks consistency in their branding and content that has put its marketing strategy over the top.
Starbucks uses all the traditional channels as well as digital channels for its promotion.
Every piece of content they publish follows the same visual and language guidelines that customers have come to expect from the coffee giant.
The Starbucks Rewards program offers incentives for buying products with free in-store refills, free products (after a certain amount of money is spent), and extra offers and discounts in the store.
Not to mention, the mobile app makes it easy for customers to pay ahead and find a store location.
People are the 5th important factor in the Marketing Mix of Starbucks, and people are nothing but the employees of the company. Its the employees of the company that play a major role in the success of a service company, because they are the face of the company.
There is a popular saying
Happy Employees = Happy Customers
Starbucks has over 200,000 employees across the world and considers them as their “Partners”. The company makes sure in training their partners in both “Hard” and “Soft” skills, which help them in keeping the attrition rate low and customers happy.
Making customers stand for hours in long queues to get a cup of coffee is the last thing that the management team of Starbucks would want.
Starbucks follows an efficient command line to the deliver coffee and other products in any of their stores by using the highest technology to maintain the premium standards.
Services, as we know, are largely intangible when marketing. In this case, customers tend to rely on physical cues to help them evaluate the product before they buy it. Therefore marketers develop what we call physical evidence to replace these physical cues in a service.
For Starbucks, it’s their stores, ambiance, coffee mugs/glasses with the logo printed, paper napkins etc all come under the physical evidence of the brand that reflects the premium-ness of the brand.
This concludes the Marketing Mix of Starbucks
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