Starbucks' ultimate goal is to open 25,111 chain stores around the world, just like McDonald's fast food restaurants (with 31,111 branches).
Starbucks' way of expanding to other places is to capture the big cities in this area and build a good reputation, and then take this as the center and March into the smaller towns around. In the process of expansion, Starbucks will first refer to the demographic data of various places, carefully analyze and determine the appropriate customer base before entering the region. Starbucks' price positioning is "luxury that most people can afford" and its consumer positioning is "white-collar class". Most of these customers are high-level intellectuals, who like fine products, food and art, and they are consumers with high income and high loyalty.
in the catering service industry, the cost of differentiation is very high, so it is very difficult to attract customers through products and prices. However, customers often will not change for a long time after agreeing with a service, and will use this service stably for a long time. This is particularly obvious among white-collar workers, who always have a psychological tendency to pursue stability. Therefore, Starbucks uses "attack strategy" to move customers and cultivate their loyalty. Howard Schultz The cornerstone of Starbucks' quality is the top-grade roasted coffee beans that Starbucks has been engaged in since its birth in 1971. Starbucks after the transformation has a special procurement system. They travel in Indonesia, East Africa and Latin America all the year round, communicate with local coffee growers and exporters, and buy the best coffee beans in the world to ensure that all people who love Starbucks can taste the purest coffee. There are many kinds of Starbucks coffee, and there are almost strict requirements in the production. For example, each cup of espresso should be boiled for 23 seconds, and the milk of latte (Starbucks' main product) should be heated to at least 151 degrees Fahrenheit, but never more than 171 degrees.
in order to ensure the quality, Starbucks adheres to four principles: refusing to join, Starbucks does not believe that the joining owners will do a good job in quality management; Refuse to sell artificially flavored coffee beans. Starbucks disdains to pollute top coffee beans with chemical flavors; Refused to enter the supermarket, Starbucks could not bear to pour fresh coffee beans into plastic containers in the supermarket and let them go bad and stale; Buy top grade coffee beans. The goal of making the perfect baking will never change. But because of these persistence, Starbucks is sometimes at a competitive disadvantage.
Later, for the sake of competition, Starbucks compromised some internal rules. For example, entering the supermarket in 1997 (described later); Special areas (such as airports) and some foreign markets (such as Singapore) adopt the mode of authorized joining (but the proportion is less than 11%); Providing coffee drinks made of low-fat milk (Starbucks makes full-fat milk to ensure the authentic taste of espresso), etc., all keep pace with the changes of environment and market. What's important is that the original persistence has provided the greatest help for building a brand. 1. style Starbucks is outstanding in that it not only creates a unified appearance, but also adds changes, reflects the aesthetic feeling with style and creates a visual impact.
2. Environmental design. Starbucks derives its "planting" from the four stages of coffee making. "Baking" mainly in dark red and dark brown series; Blue is the water and brown is the "follicle" of coffee; Explain the "aroma" of coffee with light yellow, white and green colors. Four store design styles, according to the location of the store, combined with natural environmental protection materials, lighting and accessories are quickly matched into local stores to create freshness.
3. Sensory recognition. Smell, sight, hearing, touch and taste all shape the romantic mood of Starbucks Cafe. Re-baking gourmet coffee beans is the source of Starbucks' taste, and the "four prohibitions" policy (no smoking, no employees using perfume, no flavored coffee beans with chemical flavors, and no other foods and soups) ensures that the store is full of natural and mellow aroma of coffee. After Schultz introduced this kind of atmosphere and drinks with espresso cafes to the United States, it was localized, and relaxed jazz replaced serious operas and classical music (and now some classical operas are also selected).
4. packaging aesthetics. Starbucks' aesthetics is not only a reference, but also a blend of its own style. Different marks show their diversity and variability under the basic unified style. The creator of mermaid trademark designed more than a dozen exquisite stickers according to the rare birds and animals, cultural characteristics and unique situations of various coffees in various coffee producing areas. Highlight the uniqueness of coffee beans from various producing areas, and let consumers think of the faces of various coffees when they see the packaging. Starbucks service innovation: Starbucks also attaches great importance to developing new service content according to customers' needs. Starbucks, headquartered in Seattle, is trying various business ideas to attract people into the store and extend their stay. When you enter Starbucks, you will feel the music swirling in the air swinging your soul. The store often plays some jazz, American country music and piano solos. These just cater to those fashionable, trendy and avantgarde white-collar workers. They are faced with strong pressure of survival every day and need spiritual comfort very much. Music at this moment just plays this role, which makes you wake up some nostalgic feelings that may have disappeared in your heart when you consume a culture. Since 2112, Starbucks has launched high-speed wireless Internet access service in 1,211 chain stores in North America and Europe. Customers with laptops or personal digital assistants (PDA) can surf the Internet, send and receive emails and download information while enjoying coffee.
Starbucks recognizes that network connection has become a "selling point", and those brands that provide excellent Internet experience can get rich returns. As a free wireless ISP (Internet Service Provider), Starbucks also provides a social center for this generation, which is mainly connected through applications and social media.
channel innovation: in 1998, coffee sold through supermarkets and food in the United States accounted for half of the total sales in that year. In more than 26,111 grocery stores, there is a broader market than Starbucks retail chain stores and special sales channels. Making full use of this channel can bring millions of consumers to the company. In addition, putting products into supermarkets can also save the company's transportation costs and reduce operating costs. The company's retail capacity will be further strengthened, and the decision makers of Schultz and other companies believe that supermarkets are an important way to continue to develop Starbucks coffee sales. Although Schultz made the rule of "refusing to enter the supermarket" because he couldn't bear the fresh coffee beans to deteriorate and smell, the change of environment constantly required the company to revise its principles. In 1997, Schultz and his senior management ordered to enter the supermarket. Despite the risks and difficulties-after all, the supermarket is not a sales place that the company can control. However, what worried Schultz did not happen. On the contrary, the original decision produced good results.
Consumer education: In the process of expanding to Asian countries, Starbucks has to face the problem that promoting and popularizing coffee in a country that is used to drinking tea will inevitably encounter emotional resistance from consumers. Starbucks first focused on promoting "consumer education".
the biggest success of Starbucks coffee is that it creates a formal and informal intermediate state for customers-the third space (library or reading room). With the rapid development of economy and society, this kind of "reading enjoyment" library or book bar will become popular.
Starbucks branches must hold a coffee lecture for customers once a week. The main contents are related knowledge of coffee, how to brew it yourself, and the use of utensils. The form is very flexible, usually when there are many customers, and the time is controlled at about 31 minutes. Many customers asked questions one after another, and the atmosphere was very lively. In Shanghai, Starbucks is planning and implementing a service called "Coffee Classroom". Its content is: If three or four people go for coffee together, Starbucks will equip them with a dedicated barista. Of course, the barista is optional, but the information revealed is that the number of customers who go to Starbucks together is on the rise.
mystery customer: for Starbucks, word of mouth is the best advertisement. In order to achieve this word-of-mouth effect, we must serve every guest well. Starbucks standard is: make every cup of coffee well and grasp every detail. You may be facing the 111th guest today, but for the guest, it was the first cup of coffee, and his understanding of Starbucks began with this cup of coffee. Starbucks chose Asia as the first stop of overseas expansion because: 1. Asia is very helpful for Starbucks to expand its market share; 2. Asia can be the source of Starbucks' high-quality Arabian coffee beans; Starbucks can easily have a public relations advantage in Asia.
The main reasons for Starbucks to enter the European market are: 1. Europe has a strong coffee culture; 2. The leisure of European coffee drinkers makes the operators there seldom consider changing and developing modern business philosophy, which provides Starbucks with the opportunity to enter the market.
As an international neutral country, Switzerland takes tourism as its pillar industry, and its xenophobia is not serious. Therefore, Switzerland plays an important role in the European market of Starbucks. If Starbucks can't gain a foothold in Switzerland, then the plan to conquer other markets will always be just a dream.
Good psychological quality is the prerequisite for success in starting a business. It is a challenge to make "stubborn" Europeans drink coffee with American culture. When Starbucks attacked the European market, it kept a good attitude, did not be impatient, did not give up, persistently promoted its own coffee and culture, and finally succeeded.
the fundamental basis for multinational enterprises to stand abroad is to do as the Romans do and implement localized management. Coffee is western, Starbucks is American, but Starbucks' coffee culture is all over the world-this is the result of Starbucks' clever use of localization strategy in the process of globalization. In China and Japan, Starbucks let the orientals who were not familiar with coffee taste the wonderful feeling of "East meets West", thus they became fascinated by Starbucks. In Europe, Starbucks makes the British who are "conservative and picky" about drinks drink the charm of afternoon tea from coffee. This is the power of cultural integration and the genius of localization. Starbucks entered a strange market with its unique coffee culture, but it was in the strange market that Starbucks enriched itself, giving customers a fresh feeling of being unfamiliar and familiar, which ensured Starbucks' invincible market development in the world.