Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Starbucks: Premium Quality Coffee



Starbucks is one of the first companies that come to mind when I think of successful product positioning. For those of you who don’t know, product positioning is a marketing technique which involves creating a unique, consistent, and recognized customer perception about a firm’s offering and image. In other words, it involves creating and maintaining a certain concept of a product in the customer’s eyes. However, before creating the product position the company must determine the market segment they want to target their product or service to. In this case, Starbucks decided to mainly target office workers with middle to high incomes and in turn the company provides premium products with a place people can go between work and home and relax gather and socialize. Within the walls of Starbucks you can find comfortable furniture and tables and they serve multiple different coffee drinks and pastries that are associated with a high price to show their high quality. This is how Starbucks wanted its products and services to be perceived. Starbucks maintains a premium quality image by carefully monitoring each and every step of coffee production. They buy dark-roast whole bean coffee from countries like Costa Rica, Sumatra, and Kenya and then roast the coffee beans in their own plants and sell them only through company-owned stores. Starbucks also provides excellent service and they are always making sure customers are more than satisfied. 

What is the first company that comes to mind when you think of product positioning? How does the company create a unique and consistent customer perception of their product or service?

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