Learn To Craft Essays On Starbucks: Delivery Customer Service With This Example

Starbucks operates in the industry in which customer service plays a vital role. Starbucks sells coffee and beverages through different distribution channels and selling the coffee beverages in the coffee shops brings the most profit. The company has been able to maintain the high level of customer service, but the results of the surveys suggest that the people are very dissatisfied with the waiting time in the coffee shops.
Judging from the information provided in the case study, there may be several reasons for the slow service in the coffee shops. A very long menu list and unusual orders made by the loyal customers make the baristas very busy and unfriendly. In addition, the labor costs are strictly controlled by Starbucks and there are not enough personnel to complete the orders in just 3 minutes. What is more, the company noticed that the customer profile changed – there are many new customers that significantly differ from the established customers. They are not so well-educated, their incomes are lower, and their buying habits are different. Christine Day, senior vice president of Starbucks in North America, thinks that the customer satisfaction will improve if the company invests more into the personnel, because now Starbucks seems to be focused on the effectiveness and pays less attention to the customers.
The alternatives may be very different. Firstly, the company should optimize and localize the menu list in order to weaken the pressure on the baristas. Secondly, Starbucks may focus on selling more additional pre-cooked products and thus cover the costs for hiring more personnel. Finally, the company opened too many stores and if it wants to continue to grow the revenue it should develop sales through the other distribution channels.
In conclusion, Starbucks should reassess its aggressive expansion strategy in terms of the number of stores and number of served beverages. The company should focus on the quality of the customer service in particular speed of service and extension of the product range in the other business segments. Thus, by means of the product differentiation it will be able to follow its experiential branding strategy that relies on three elements – coffee of the highest quality, service (customer intimacy), and atmosphere.