Starbucks

The secrets of the Starbucks model

There are actually more than one key, there are several, but the main one is to create an extraordinary customer experience. If you just past by and shop at Starbucks you will not live the experience just like if you decide to spend a couple of hours there. I am not usually a regular Starbucks user, but when I did I remember being there between 1 and 3 hours. Starbucks is like that place where you know you're going to be fine, comfortable and enjoy coffee, a book, a good company. Starbucks leaves you an experience, you have not just had a cup a coffee, you've had an experience, and unique experience around the consumption of coffee and in a pleasant and warm atmosphere. “Starbucks management viewed each store as a billboard for the company and as a contributor to building the company’s brand and image”.^[1]

But there is not only that, its model has more keys to success. “As defined by Michael Porter there are three potentially successful generic strategies: overall cost leadership, differentiation and focus.^[2] Starbucks

A custom product. A Starbucks customer can choose between different combinations, something that any consumer greatly appreciates "doing it your way". Customizing the product (and even naming your coffee cup to take away) is one more way to create customer experience.
Grow quickly. Howard took the McDonalds model as a source of inspiration, fast growing globally to position the brand and avoid substitutes.
A customer-centric approach. The philosophy of Starbucks is to put the customer at the center of everything they do. How simple! And how well they have gone. This type of approach is lacking in our companies, not to mention the public administration, where we often see an anti-client approach.
Quality-based approach. Its products are of high quality and its price is high compared to similar ones. “Starbucks promoted fair trade practices and paid above- market prices for coffee beans to provide its growers/ suppliers with sufficient funding to sustain their operations and provide for their families”^[3]. They have used a high-value-added approach that values ​​high-middle-class clients, but also invites low-spending customers (especially teenagers) to spend a good portion of their weekly allowance on spending an afternoon with friends.