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Starbucks was established in 1971. Since that time the company has managed to grow from a modest cafe to a worldwide network, having the largest chain of coffee restaurants in the world, offering high quality products to customers and reliable service.
Nowadays Starbucks plans to expand its international operations. For 2016 it has a goal to open 500 new coffee stores. It also wants to open a new tea brand Teavana to India. The management of the company is of the opinion that China’s market will offer almost unlimited opportunities and a space to grow the international operations along with the popularity of the brand. Because modern technology is very popular in China, Starbucks plans to build a local digital experience that will make it exciting for the customers to choose beverages at Starbucks.
In the years of economic recession, starting from 2008, it was difficult for Starbucks to balance with the same level of business success as before. It also started to face severe competition from McDonald’s that started selling their branded coffee. CEO of the company, Howard Schultz decided to solve these problems by closer emotional connection with the customers.
Firstly, all of the customers were invited to participate in the development of the company. Starbucks literally asked everyone about their opinion in what they should improve or introduce. This was done by means of active Internet communication.
Secondly, Starbucks launched a number of charity and environmental campaigns that promoted the brand and attracted more and more customers.
Finally, the company started to embrace the market of mobile technologies much sooner than their competitors. One of the first applications it has developed was the store locator. Also, they launched rewards programmes and developed nutrition calculators.
