Introduction
The Starbucks Company has been in existence for more than two decades and has the most successful coffee brand in the world. The company has penetrated the US and Europe markets. It is currently building a Starbucks tea brand. This analytical paper presents a comprehensive market audit of the Starbucks Company from the responses by Jeremy Kim and Michael White, who are senior managers within the company.
Products
The Starbucks Company has penetrated the beverage market for the last twenty years due to its unique coffee brand and other related services. Among the main products the company stocks include coffee, tea, and snacks. Mr. Kim revealed that the company’s products have no age limit on the users. Besides, the company has benefitted from the research oriented product creation to suit demands of customers (Tynan and McKechnie, 2009). However, Mr. Kim was quick to clarify that the company needs to modify the market leader branding strategy to avoid instances of counterfeiting. This will allow clients to distinguish the products for their uniqueness.
Price
As revealed by Mr. White, the Starbucks Company’s brand has penetrated the market due to its market leader pricing strategy (Pergelova and Angulo-Ruiz, 2013). Thus, the company has managed to maintain high demand for its brands amidst competition, as the pricing strategy is designed to retain customers who want quality and relatively affordable beverages. The market leader price was as a result of transition from the penetration pricing after the brand was widely accepted. Mr. Kim further claimed that the company has clear potential for expansion following the endorsement of its tea brand by Oprah Winfrey.
Distribution
The company has adopted an automated supply chain management system to easily track the delivery of raw materials and final distribution of the finished products. Mr. White stated that the automated system is very stable and reliable since it can tracks activities in each stage of production and delivery to guarantee consumer satisfaction (Kotler and Keller, 2012).
Integrated marketing communication
The Starbucks Company has one of the most prolific advertisement and sales promotion strategies in the beverage sector. Mr. Kim revealed that the company has an annual budget of one million dollars for advertisement and promotional activities such as discounts and coupons. The company has three marketing channels consisting of online, direct, and website within its e-commerce model called the B2C (Kotler and Keller, 2012).
Strategic Audit
Business mission
The Starbucks’ business mission is to be the market leader is provision of quality and affordable beverages to families across the globe (Pergelova and Angulo-Ruiz, 2013). Mr. White revealed that the current management model of the company revolves around this vision as it functions within the parameter of customer satisfaction through quality products and fair pricing.
Marketing objective
The company’s marketing objective is to expand and stratify its beverage brands. This objective forms the basis for managing and benchmarking different short-term and long-term goals (Pergelova and Angulo-Ruiz, 2013). Mr. Kim revealed that the objective is aligned within the customer satisfaction strategy to make the Starbucks’ products competitive. Thus, the Starbucks’ current business model will ensure product sustainability and effortless market penetration (Sarin, Challagalla, and Kohli, 2012).
Strategy
The interviewees noted that the Starbucks Company has one of the most prolific marketing strategies to facilitate market expansion and customer satisfaction through tracking of compliments and complaints from different market segments (Tynan and McKechnie, 2009). Besides, the company has created a balance between the variables of inseparability and intangibility in its market mix, as the products are visible among those of its competitors.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall
Pergelova, A., Angulo-Ruiz, L. (2013). Marketing and corporate social performance: steering the wheel towards marketing’s impact on society, Social Business, 3(2), 201-224.
Sarin, S., Challagalla, G., & Kohli, A. (2012). Implementing changes in marketing strategy: The role of perceived outcome and process-oriented supervisory actions, Journal of Marketing Research, 3(12), 564-580.
Tynan, C., & McKechnie, S. (2009). Experience marketing: a review and reassessment, Journal of Marketing Management, 25(6), 501-527.