Howard Schultz, founding father of Starbucks, was inspired by the coffee culture in Italy to built the global empire. Despite getting inspired by Italian coffee, Starbucks has not ventured/started the coffee business in the country. This is a rather intriguing observation in regards to coffee culture in Italy. He even promised to open a branch in Milan and Rome, but the promise has not yet materialized.
He argues that it is not fear that keeps the company from investing in Italy but lack of enough potential compared to other markets in the world. It offers high quality coffee, which other countries use to compare their coffee. Although Starbucks has made its name worldwide, it is not even recognized in Italy. This is confirmed by Orlando Chiari who refers to it as Starbush and expounds that he does not even know it. Italians refer to the Starbuck coffee as different, but not a better grade. Every corner of the country has a coffee shop and thus opening a coffee place in the country would not necessarily succeed.
In offering coffee in the country, the marketing strategists should consider coming up with better ideas of beating an already competitive market. An example would be setting up coffee places where people get some free time and comfort ability to relax. This will be somewhat different from what the Italians are used to. They also have to come up with better coffee grade compared to the already existent coffee grades in the market.
In my opinion, entering the Italian coffee market for Starbucks would be a mistake. Already other companies are copying their product and offering it in Italy. They should concentrate on unexploited markets and leave the Italian market.
References
Grounds Zero: A Starbucks-Free Italy
McEachern, W. A. (2013). Contemporary economics. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
