Following is a detailed analysis of three new coffee brands in the perspective of the customer.
- Starbucks Coffee
This brand targets customers who believe in ‘Specialty Coffee’ in a prestigious consumption connotation. Even though the product is basically coffee, it is new in the customer’s perspective because of differentiation to suit their unique desires, like the Vivanno™ Smoothies. (Adamy 2008).
Marketing mix evaluation
Product: Starbucks brand incorporates a variety of products, among them, Natural fusions of Vanilla, Caramel and Cinnamon flavors, to perfectly satisfy the consumer needs.
Price: The pricing strategy for the brand is skimming, since it is aimed be inherently prestigious.
Place: The product is well distributed all over the world with more than 18,000 outlets.
Promotion: A Starbucks Card has been introduced to facilitate payment and promote ownership of royal customers.
- Dunkin’ Donuts
In America, the target market for Dunkin’ Donuts is the middle-working class people. (Marketing Vox 2008).
Marketing mix evaluation
Product: The brand has a variety of products, among them Bagel Twists Coffee, Coolatta®, and Espresso Beverages.
Price: The variable price for hot coffee ranges from 1.19$ to 1.99$, but it is never costly.
Place: The products can be bought in the stores or online.
Promotion: The promotion for Dunkin’ Donuts is normally through advertising.
- McDonalds’ McCafe
The coming together of idea of McDonalds and McCafe’s was to provide great luxury, along coffee lines, to the middle and low class consumers, especially in USA. (Glover 2008)
Marketing mix evaluation
Product: McCafe has introduced coffee bars with baristas (Adamy 2008) serving cappuccinos, mochas, Frappe, and the lattes.
Price: In a penetrative pricing strategy the prices for McCafe‘s coffee are slightly lower.
Place: The brand utilizes a “store-within-a-store” strategy so as to satisfy the needs of parents and children at the same time.
Promotion: McDonalds have a great investment in advertising to promote McCafe.
I believe that all this brands have a great potential of success since they have unique positioning and well structured in their promotional strategy.
References
Adamy, J. (2008). McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ Donuts Compete!. Retrieved from
http://www3.babson.edu/Centers/retail_intelligence/upload/McDonalds_Starbucks_Dunkin_Donuts_Compete.pdf
Adamy, J. (2008). Wall Street Journal on the crisis at Starbucks. Retrieved from http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/1936
Glover, Katherine. (2008) McDonald’s ‘McCafe’ Picks Up Steam, Challenging Starbucks. Retrieved by http://www.bnet.com/blog/food/mcdonalds-mccafe-picks-up-steam-challenging-starbucks/320
Marketing Vox. (2008). Dunkin' Donuts Bows $100MM "You Kin' Do It!" Campaign. Retrieved from http://www.marketingvox.com/dunkin-donuts-bows-100%C2%A0mm-you-kin-do-it-campaign-042713/
