From the portrait of Starbucks brand to the portrait of a customer

Author: Anna N.

Interesting fact is when we try to match brand personality with the brand target audience, we can see that the Starbucks customer has really changed during the last years. Who was a typical Starbucks customer since a long time? This person should have certainly love coffee, even be addicted to coffee. It means he probably should have had an active life rhythm, as he needed something to cheer up and probably on a regular basis. He probably should have got enough money. He probably perceived himself as a person with a good taste and style and a certain knowledge of his needs, which means in the environment he mostly appreciated the style and personal attitude in service. If we have asked this person, with what type of personality Starbucks associates to you, he would definitely answer: the same as me. In spite of the fact that Starbucks is still associated with something stylish, the “style” of the customer has changed itself, transforming from something “luxury” to something more “clerk” or “hipster”. However, over 70% of respondents agreed to some extend that Starbucks is the best among competitors, but still across different countries Starbucks is now more associated with such low price segment competitors like McDonald’s or Dunkin Donuts, which also confirms the mentioned switch in the consumers’ mind. This switch may also explain the decline in the percentage of people, considering Starbucks to be a part of their lifestyle and visiting Starbucks following the “call of the heart” (graph 1, 2 & 3).

Graph 1: If you visit Starbucks on the regular bases, what is your main motivation?

Graph 2: How often do you visit Starbucks?

Graph 3: Remember your last visit to Starbucks. Why you choose it among other cafes?

Graph 4: Thinking about Starbucks brand values, choose 3 from the list that you appreciate most of all?

The survey results show that nowadays Starbucks for the customer is not about a tribute to fashion, like it was before, but more about practical benefits, like coffee taste and convenience of the café location (graph 4). 

Taking into account the above results we will not be surprised, why among the points of improvement the most of the respondents (30%) mentioned “reducing the prices” variant – if the brand is not considered as luxury anymore people are not willing to pay more. So what can be the reason of such a change in the consumers’ mind since the last years? Does it mean that today the customer, who remembers the Starbucks being a “cool place to go” and “cool cup to carry” just got more mature, with higher incomes and higher expectations? Or may be because today less and less people from the so called early adapters would like to be associated with “clerk” or “hipster”? And does these trends mean that Starbucks today should rely more on occasional customers rather then those, who are really addicted to the brand, and focus more on the new generation of young people and stake on the mass market rather then keeping to it’s selectivity? Still this is a rather common life circle for the majority of brands from being something special to being something cool, but already usual. And in most of the cases the brand doesn’t need to fight against changes in the consumers’ minds, but to follow the wave and move along with these changes, adapting its marketing strategy to them.We already can notice that Starbucks is adequately reacting to changes on the target market, for example, developing some loyalty programmes on the facebook platform, reaching the younger audience by this, as well as planning to open the “healthy food” points to respond to the needs of a more mature audience. So Starbucks still keeps its strong positions and strong brand perception. And moreover, it still gives a pleasant experience and makes people feel different. But may be just different (=other) people. And what do you think?