Starbucks is among the brands that everyone recognizes easily. And as every huge and successful brand, Starbucks has its interesting and unique story. Students often get the task to write an essay, research or a case study on the Starbucks effect and its impact not only on competitors and the coffee market but also on the economic aspect of the housing market in American neighborhoods. Below is an example of how an essay about the Starbucks effect should look like.
The Starbucks Effect: How a Successful Brand Can Turn Everything Around
Starbucks is without a doubt the most popular coffeehouse in the world. This brand has come a long way from a small coffee shop to the global chain where every person can try the delicious premium coffee. The history of this beyond successful coffee production business started in the US in 1971 with a somehow literature collaboration. Firstly, the founders were two teachers and a writer, and secondly, the brand was called after one of the characters in the famous novel Moby Dick. Starbucks was the captain assistant and the sea wolf. By the way, the brand’s logo is connected to the sea, too – it shows a beautiful siren capable of putting deadly charms on sailors. The sea theme was intended to highlight the fact that coffee is brought from the far lands.
The business was growing step by step, and more and more coffeehouses were opened. In 1987, the former employee bought the chain, and in a year, the company began its marketing campaign by sending catalogs to people. This helped to increase the chain to 33 coffeehouses in different states. In 1996 the first international Starbucks was opened in Japan.
Now the company claims to be a coffeehouse chain of quick service. Customers can also order breakfasts and lunches. People can just relax in one of the coffeehouses, work in a cozy atmosphere or have a meeting with business partners in an informal place. Visitors can order some music among more than 200 tracks and even buy a CD with the songs they liked. The cost of such a service is $9. Starbucks also arranges tastings in nursing homes and hospitals, buys coffee from the third world countries for market prices and helps farmers implement eco-friendly technologies. Having decided that coffee business is not enough, the owners went further and initiated a number of other products:
- – Offering coffee at the United Airlines planes;
- – Selling premium quality tea through their affiliate company Tazo Tea;
- – Using the Internet to offer their customers order coffee online;
- – Making coffee ice-cream with the Dreyer Company;
- – Supplying ground coffee and coffee beans at supermarkets such as Wal-Mart, etc.
The Starbucks Effect
All those and more things have brought Starbucks to being the number one coffee place and increased their sales big time. The demand curve for more Starbucks stores opened close people’s homes is. Real estate specialists Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries have even found the connection between a house price and the nearness of a Starbucks store. They claim that if there is a Starbucks store in the neighborhood, the prices tend to go higher. So, if there is a Starbucks in a neighborhood, expect the costs to be higher just because (when the market is in equilibrium, of course).
So, Starbucks is a great example of a big successful business that gained its popularity mostly by word of mouth. It seems to get more popular every year, and its sales haven’t decreased since the beginning (apart from the recession periods). Now it’s a place in every good neighborhood where you can see businessmen get espresso, hipsters drink their mourning cappuccino, yoga instructors have an after training latte and freelancers take their unhealthy quantity of drinks in a row. You can see people of different age, social status, and behavior here. It’s a place that has come from marginal profits to shops selling coffee and different goods in 55 countries serving more than 20 millions of consumers every week. This example shows that hard work and good marketing recourses can result in something so big and successful, even with curves in a road to triumph.