Assignment: Explaining the Problem
Starbucks may be doing customer service well, hitting profit numbers, and continuing to grow, but as every company grows, so do its customers. Expectations and opinions change and Starbucks has lost the understanding of who the typical customer of 2018 is. While Starbucks was doing all the right things, such as creating an atmosphere, providing excellent service, and producing high quality items, they forgot who they were doing these components of their branding structure for. The problems is half of Starbucks customs customize their drinks, which leads to a lack product quality because staff is trained to make the drinks a certain way, adding other ingredients isn't a part of the plan. This then slows down service time which is a key element a Starbucks customer is looking for. Starbucks from the beginning has strived to offer fast service and have even looked into adding more partners to speed up service time.
Starbucks has kept their sleek white and green modern themed stores since the creation of the company, but is that still what attracts customers?
Talk about the design and overall appearance of the shops. - Competitors such as Caribou Coffee and Peet's coffee are known for differentiating themselves based off the environment they provide. Starbucks hasn't changed the design of their stores from the modern sophisticated look they are today.
Recommendations section - To re discover the Starbucks customer
Recommendation 1. Address the product quality issue from customization
• Product quality from customization problem ------Have a build your own drink option, so that people stop customizing current drinks and interfering with perfectly predetermined recipes. Product quality of the perfectly designed drink option decreases when this happens.
Recommendation 2. Design of the store not attracting customers
• Design of the store - ex. a more relaxed feel like some of the niche coffee shops with a relaxing atmosphere
o Introduced some individualized designed shops. This is from the concept of "appeal to everyone and you'll appeal to no one". Customers are younger and more individualistic. Starbucks get the benefits of a personalized independent coffee shops without changes in quality. It also gives them an opportunity to change brand positioning and getting away from the "Starbucks care primarily about money".
Recommendation 3. No current customer involvement activities
• Customer involvement - a way that the customers are the forefront of ideas, Besides just surveys.
o Some kind of crowdsourcing that involves social media for new drink ideas.
o Or.....Community outreach. Holding events such as workshops and partnering with local organizations at starbucks. Through more interaction starbucks can get a better ideas of what they want.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.