Free «Starbucks’ Marketing Tools» Essay

Marketing Tools at Starbucks

Starbucks is a global company that coffee and coffee products for the international market. Based in Washington, the company is considered the largest company in the world that deals with coffee products. It operates in several brands, all of which are quite popular in the international market. However, the company is held up in a stiff fight for the global market with several other companies dealing in the same products. In order to beat this competition, the company has adopted a marketing strategy that includes intentionally selling at a loss, use of coupons to win customer loyalty as well as niche marketing.

Pricing Strategy

Aware of other similar products in the market, pricing strategy would definitely come in handy. In this strategy, the price of the commodity is based on the prices of similar products in the market. In most cases, marketers price their products slightly lower than similar products in the market. For example, the recommended price of $6 would have to be revised based on price of competing products. However, the prices should not be too low to the extent that the business makes extreme losses. These losses may cause the business to collapse altogether and thus should be avoided. It must be noted that lots of money is spent in the design and packaging of the products and the business should seek to raise this money. In addition, a business could be implementing more than one strategy at the same time. For example, media campaigns take relatively lots of money and may make it impossible for businesses to maketheir prices lower than their competitors. It usually complicates matters for most marketers when more than one marketing strategy has to be applied (Brakus 2009).

Coupons Marketing

Coupon Marketing is as old as marketing itself is. The success of the Coca Cola brand of beverages is associated with the use of coupons. This is a financial document that one can use to obtain a discount from a particular seller or a distributor. In some cases, a business may opt to give free products for a number of similar products bought. This has the benefit of stimulating customer loyalty among buyers so that they continue to consume the product. According to statistics, consumers love free things and they would do anything to get them. In fact, nine out of ten consumers, would likely buy a product where he or she gets something free. This reality has been used by several businesses to penetrate markets that initially looked non-penetrable. It starts by a customer using a product simply to get something free. With time, however, consumers would start buying the product because of its quality that they have come to realize. In the case of Starbucks Coffee, the use of coupons would be significant because the business will not make any losses by giving them. This is especially so considering that coffee products can be packed in small quantities and given to several people (Roby 2011).

Niche Marketing

There is also niche marketing where the marketers target specific target groups and ensure that they come onto the fold. In this case, having realized that women have lately become the greatest consumers of coffee, Starbucks Coffee would have to be packaged in a manner that appeals to women. In addition, it should be noted that things which appeal to women are likely to appeal to young people, especially young ladies. This implies that marketing would have to go overboard and try to reach out to young people to become consumers of Starbucks Coffee. It will particularly involve focusing on Lifetime television network because it is mostly watched by women of all ages. However, the health benefits associated with Starbucks Coffee would make it appealing to professionals, especially health professionals. This is because they have a better understanding of the health issues and would quickly buy the idea if it looks real. The fact that health professionals regularly encounter the general public on the course of their duties also makes them an ideal target group. Once they become loyal consumers of Starbucks Coffee, they would definitely influence quite a number of their clients to consume the product as well. They will create a network through which the product would penetrate the market. Although niche marketing may take long to popularize a product, the effects are always long lasting once the product is well established in the market (Brakus 2009).

These strategies have been effective because each focuses on different aspect of the global market. While the idea of selling at a loss has been credited with attracting the attention of potential buyers, the nice package that products are given serves the purpose of stimulating customers desire. This is particularly true considering that the greatest consumers of coffee products are young women. In their advertisements, Starbucks marketers also include health benefits of the products and this appeals to people’s interest. Eventually, potential customers are left with no option but to take action of purchasing Starbucks coffee. The picture appearing herein is likely to negatively impact on the sales of Starbucks coffee because it contains negative information about the product. While it may have been written to imply other things, the word “sucks” is often used to mean something nasty. It will significantly kill people’s interest in the product and customers will not want to have a taste of a product that “sucks”.