Analyzing the branding image of Starbucks
The clock is ticking. Thirteen minutes are left until the beginning of the first class. You wonder whether it would be possible to attend class with a cup of Americano as you enter Starbucks. Unfortunately, the mission comes to a failure as you were not even close to the counter to place the order. Despite the lengthy wait time, people did not hesitate to stand in line to grab coffee at Starbucks.
Starbucks is widely known by consumers in our society as Starbucks opened its store every few blocks across America. Starbucks is also well known to have the best quality coffee made by employees who are passionate towards coffee. The familiarity of the name, Starbucks, attracts people but that cannot merely justify the reasons that make people enthusiastically wait in line for at least ten minutes to grab a cup of coffee (Dollinger, 1). The long line and the people in line spark astonishment and curiosity rather than irritation and anger. The question is if it is really worth the waiting time to grab a cup of coffee from Starbucks. The company claims that “Starbucks represents something beyond a cup of coffee.” This sparks to question the factors that convince customers to become loyal customers of Starbucks. In order to understand the magic Starbucks plays on people to wait in line, everything about Starbucks itself must be explored. Through the voice of the CEO, Howard Schultz in his book, Pour Your Heart into It, the mysteries of Starbucks will be revealed.
The Starbucks coffee company was able to attract people and turn them into loyal customers by using studies from consumer psychology. Consumer psychology is the study of the reasons to why and how people make certain choices (Bussing-Burks, Marie, 10). It even explains how people react to influence of marketing and external factors. It is crucial to understand that people often make decisions emotionally and justify those rationally with external factors. Starbucks is able to maintain a highly reputed brand image because it continues to provide rational reasons to customers who buy beverage from Starbucks. Understanding the reasons to why people make certain choices is important for Starbucks to play the magic to attract customers. The book, Pour Your Heart into It suggests that benefits such as taste of coffee, atmosphere, and price become the external factors that drive people into buying Starbucks coffee. Those factors do contribute but there are more which Starbucks offers.
Consumer psychology, more specifically behaviorism is defined as “the study of individuals and the process they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer (CITE).” In other words, people are influenced by outside factors when they are making decisions. This concept is used to strengthen both market and social marketing. Starbucks deliberately places its stores near offices and in school campus to target stressed and sleep deprived people. Moreover, it puts ample amount of emphasis on giving the unique coffee experience to consumers rather than merely selling the coffee. This helps to make Starbucks more familiar and reliable. The concept consumer psychology can be further used to analyze how Starbucks goes beyond the demand of customers by allowing consumers to have a unique coffee experience.
Starbucks has strategically discovered the needs of the people and offered those within Starbucks (Bryant, 95). From the moment a customer steps into Starbucks, everything the customer encounters becomes part of the Starbucks experience. The customers can utilize that time to socialize with others, get familiar with the unique terminology used at Starbucks, or have person time to think or reflect. The Starbucks brand image argue that study of consumer psychology is necessary to appeal its brand to the people by not only satisfying the customers but also providing them with new unique experiences. Starbucks has successfully taken advantage of the consumer psychology studies to attract everyone into Starbucks as people are willing to wait in a long line to purchase coffee. This argument would become valid as the logo, menu, the atmosphere of Starbucks, terminology used at Starbucks and price is analyzed and connected to consumer psychology (Bussing-Burks, Marie, 10). Overall, everyone can gain benefits from Starbucks as the brilliant idea to launch a mobile app to pre-order online has given the opportunities to those who are busy and unwilling to wait in line to also experience part of the benefits Starbucks offers to its customers. Understand the needs of the people, Starbucks does not force any customers to fully experience the benefits Starbucks offers but gives everyone the chance to experience Starbucks. Analyzing the ways Starbucks took advantage of studies done on behaviorism will help other companies to become more approachable to customers. Overall, Starbucks offers a business and marketing format other companies can adopt in order to present their ideas.
Starbucks offers experience beyond a cup of coffee because it helps customers to experience the traditions of coffee shops in Italy. Starbucks was transformed into a café from a roasted coffee bean store. This transformation allowed Starbucks to incorporate coffee drinking into community’s social life. Starbucks has become a place where people can sit, sip coffee and interact with other people. This plays a major role in shaping the brand image of Starbucks; a coffee shop where you can experience beyond the taste of coffee.
One particular image in Starbucks is repeatedly used to represent Starbucks, the Starbucks logo. Starbucks did not accidently present its logo everywhere. The logo conveys messages and illustrates its branding image. The logo was designed to promote a specific life style and values offered exclusively at Starbucks. Interestingly, Starbucks uses a figure that is unfamiliar to most of the people. By doing this, it represents the idea that Starbucks is offering something new and unique to the customers. The logo contains a siren that is known as a Baubo, a two-tailed creature. In Greek Mythology, siren is well known as a female figure who expose her genitalia. The siren symbolizes female fertility and sexuality. The image of siren ties to Starbucks as it iconizes the tradition of Europe, especially Italy where the café tradition was adopted from. The Siren also connects well with Seattle, where Starbucks began, due to its proximity to the Ocean. These interpretations of the siren deepen the desire of Starbucks as a company to maintain the tradition of the coffee culture. Whether the customer knows the meaning behind the logo or not, customers are able to connect the image of siren with Starbucks. However, the logo has done a vital part in attracting customerswho later make a decision of becoming regular customers (Dollinger, 1).
Even though Starbucks came up with several selections to accommodate the demands of customers, it continues to maintain the characteristics of coffee drinking culture that was found in Italy.
The siren is also symbolized as a mother. As mothers are well known as a person who takes good care of their baby, the siren depicted as a mother figure will increases the reliability and credibility of Starbucks to be offering what is best for the people. Siren in this case has symbolized how responsible and caring Starbucks is to its customers. Since every person wishes to be attended to with the care such like that of a mother,
Starbucks coffee shop offers experience beyond a cup of coffee. Nevertheless, the beverages are one of the reason to why customers go to Starbucks. Starbucks offers numerous beverages that can be consumed by customers. The menu at Starbucks contains traditional styled coffee, Frappuccino (more modern styled blended coffee), and refreshers (non-coffee based beverages). At first, when Starbucks was turned into a café, it only offered traditional hot coffee to its customers. However, as customers demanded different types of coffee, a team of Starbucks employees gathered and introduced new beverages that accommodated well with the weather (Dollinger, 1). It even went further on to provide beverages that do not contain coffee. As the menu is well organized into different sections, it gives out a message that everyone regardless of his or her taste, is welcomed to grab a drink at Starbucks. The beautiful service the menu offers has greatly played a significant role in the building up of consumer psychology
Beyond the list of beverages, Starbucks gives out several options to allow the customers to customize their own coffee. The menu offers any type of beverage in both cold and hot style. Moreover, customers are given the option to add syrups, different kind of milk, or extra shot(s). Even though the menu lists out Starbuck’s most famous drinks that offer the taste of romance, customers are given the freedom to make their own coffee. Moreover, the menu offers its coffee in five different sizes. This adds on the freedom to the customers to pick the size that would satisfy their hunger for coffee or thirst. Therefore, this image of menu gives guidance to choose a beverage to those who are not familiar with coffee or Starbucks but at the same time gives freedom to those coffee lovers to drink their own styled coffee. The fact that the menu is organized so well into different sections, customers can easily choose what they want to drink. Overall, the menu gives out a message that customers of any age and appetite can enter Starbucks and successfully satisfy their needs. Menus are attractive tools and so the number of customers increase each day hence starbucks achieves its main objective of consumer psychology.
More importantly, the terminology exclusively practiced at Starbucks is a factor customers are satisfied with. It is not large black coffee but instead a venti pike place blend.Starbucks does not go by small, medium, large but lingo that is associated with the Italian café. Sizes such as grende, venti, and trenta are all Italian words used at Starbucks. The usage of Italian words helps customers to experience what it was like to be at an Italian café. The customers are drawn to using the lingo Starbucks has created because that way, they are able to distinguish themselves from others. Costumers do not just want coffee but they want to become part of a place where it has integrated its own language and culture (Gallagher, Richard, 45). People want to belong to a specific community. As the terminology used in Starbucks is exclusive and unique, customers are able to distinguish themselves as Starbucks users. In Starbucks’s aspect, standardizing the language for costumers and baristas, stylistic and technical discourse is accomplished. This way, Starbucks becomes more appealing to the costumers as it offers uniqueness in ordering a beverage. Such terminology allows customers to feel sophisticated about what they are saying. Therefore, the customers are able to taste the romance from the point they place an order (Gallagher & Richard, 38).
In accordance to consumer psychology, people are attracted to the terminology used at Starbucks due to atmosphere at Starbucks. This is the case as the terminology is part of the experience Starbucks creates for its customers. If the customer does not adopt the Starbucks terminology, he or she is likely to be corrected by the barista in front of the others. Therefore, as people do not like to be corrected in front of others, they adopt the terminology used at Starbucks to avoid such embarrassment. People also adopt and enjoy using Starbucks terminology as they like use complicated lingo to be unique. Moreover, people associate fancy vocabularies to be trendy and as Starbucks has its own unique lingo, people want to become part of the Starbucks community to stay trendy. Overall, Starbucks terminology is used as a business strategy to attract people who want to be unique and be identified as a Starbucks customer.
Beside all these factors mentioned so far, Starbucks continues to be loved by its customers because of the atmosphere it creates within its stores.
The other secret of Starbucks lies on the pricing strategy of their coffee. Starbucks has been offering early bird specials for breakfast to most of its customers. Since the prices of these offers are sensitive, it offered some little discounts to the early raisers. In their overall menu, prices are also considerably lower compared to their neighboring competitors. This has greatly attracted the larger target market of university students and the less advantaged locals.
Starbucks price decision is worth to be embraced by other business dealers. It considers the aspect of earning relatively low from each cup of coffee which results to large benefits when more customers get attracted. Lower prices are also sustainable because they have enabled Starbucks to serve their customers profitably for a long period (AMACOM, 88).
However, Starbucks has been able to compensate the lower income by advancing their services. It has secluded a part of the café to the high class customers who feel they require more excellent services. Coffee from this horizon is relatively expensive. This ensures that the needs staff members, officials, ministers and other customers of a higher rank are catered for.
In setting up the different costs for different coffee types, Starbucks evaluated and estimated the cost which the customers would be prepared to pay and so this attracted them. Starbucks also used the strategy of lowering their prices below that of their competitors to attract customers (Jansson-Boyd, Cathrine, 150). When Starbucks had variations in prices, they amicably communicated to their customers and tried to reason with them to ensure that they stay on board. Variation of prices was also accompanied by an offer or a better service that made them feel catered for. Starbucks prices are really welcoming and so they have played a major part in the consumer psychology (Gallagher & Richard, 38).
It has been the goal of Starbucks to become the third place of their customers. Starbucks has used the approach from a “what I would want” mentality. It prompts its workers to put themselves in the shoes of the customer so that they are served the way they would like to be served. In this way, ways of making Starbucks a third place are identified for the comfort of the customers. People will find the comfort that they usually have in their homes and choose to spend some time enjoying the cool environment of Starbucks. Comfort of the customers has been one of the best and sustainable methods of ensuring consumer psychology are achieved.
Starbucks has put very comfortable and nice chairs, where people can enjoy spending their time browsing, talking and chatting with their friends. The idea behind Starbucks as a third place is to make the experience of the customers to be great. If a customer enjoys the experience, he or she shall share it with friends and family and finally invite them. Making Starbucks the third place shall also incorporate fixing problems that customers may notice and creating a free and enjoyable place worth spending even leisure time.
Starbucks has intern trained its employees who also learn by example. They are taught how to handle the customers, making the delicious coffee and maintaining the standards of the working conditions such as hygiene. In this way customers are made comfortable by the excellent services, warm welcome and finally the coffee. Starbucks has also put up a cool entertainment system where cool music can always sound. Television set is also available with the DSTV channels available. This has made Starbucks a real home where a customer can dish and get entertained.
Generally, consumer psychology helps in businessmen to identify why and how customers chose to embrace their conduct when they have a variety of choices they can choose from. The main reason of having this study is to help business persons to lay out strategies that shall attract many customers and be loyal and regular customers. Starbucks have perfected in embracing this study and so this counts a lot in its success.
Starbucks went an extra mile of creating an environment that would make the customers to have a unique experience other than just having a cup of coffee. All this efforts were meant to ensure that all customers get satisfied by the services offered in the coffee café. The beneficiaries at long last would be the Starbucks. Large amount of profits would be realized and used to expand their operations. Among the many factors that Starbucks opted to embrace, I chose logo, prices, a third place, menu and Starbucks terminology because of their outstanding impacts in the customer psychology.
Menu is the first thing that impresses a customer once he or she sits down to be served. When the menu satisfies the needs of the customer, other factors may play their part. Menu carries so much and so it communicates half the information about the café. This is because it carries the logo of the café, the prices and their corresponding coffee types, a message to the customer about the coffee café and perhaps the direction and location of the café. From this evaluation, all the other factors are at one point or another dependent on the menu. Menu therefore attracts the customers more and hence playing the most important role in customer psychology.
As discussed in the essay, logo plays a background role of attracting customers. It gives symbolic information that catches the customer’s attention and as he or she tries to find out the meaning of the symbols used. The starbuck’s logo symbolizes hard work, caring and all the other character traits that are found in mothers. This wins the customers’ attention to believe that the efforts portrayed are genuine. In this way customers share this good experience with others making the café to be known by many. Definitely the more the customers, the more easier and profitable a business becomes (AMACOM, 88).
Price and Starbucks being a third place have done a good job in the implementation of the customer psychology study. They have ensured that all the customers’ needs are met and their expectations are overtaken. These strategies have made the customers experience to be more personal whereby they end up feeling to be part of the servers union. Customers are won indirectly by the friendly services which brings them to be regular customers as they inform others of the same.
Conclusion
In conclusion, business is beyond the ordinary services. Starbucks has made it and so many other cafes and businesses in general ought to appreciate this success and embrace it in their daily operations. Instead of investing so much in trying to compete with competitors, customer psychology study would serve this purpose best.
Works cited
Dollinger.M., Starbucks, "The Third Place", and Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience 2016
http://www.fastcompany.com/887990/starbucks-third-place-and-creating-ultimate-customer-experience
http://www.starbucks.co.uk/about-us/our-heritagFormun Üstü
Simon, Bryant. Everything but the Coffee: Learning About America from Starbucks. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. Internet resource.
Bussing-Burks, Marie. Starbucks. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press, 2009. Print.
Gilbert, Sara. The Story of Starbucks. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 2008. Print.
Jansson-Boyd, Cathrine V. Consumer Psychology. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2010. Internet resource.
Gallagher, Richard S. Great Customer Connections: Simple Psychological Techniques That Guarantee Exceptional Service. New York: AMACOM, 2006. Internet resource.
