Starbucks Can Even Sell Coffee in China

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 31-May-2006 09:35 AM
Like other Chinese, Sampson Lee, guru for CRM in Greater China, grew up drinking tea. Yet, even he has followed the call of Starbucks call of Starbucks. What is it about Starbucks? Lee and others say Starbucks, more than most other businesses across industries, has managed to produce a great customer experience.

It's so good, they say, that people are willing to fork over (spoon over?) $5 or more for hot beverages.

Do you believe in Starbucks? Do you believe in the importance of building a great customer experience? What is your company doing?

The funny thing is that, much as I've been doing a lot of writing and reading about Starbucks these days, I'm not really a Starbucks customer. And I'm a huge coffee drinker. I brew my own coffee from gourmet beans. I do occasionally buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, on cold days from the stand inside my grocery store. But that's, maybe, four cups a year.

So what's so great about Starbucks?

Jill W.
Member

Posted 05-Jun-2006 06:58 PM
I work part-time in a Starbucks near my home while I'm building a new hair salon with my husband. I selected Starbucks for the company's legendary commitment to customer service. I wanted to spend time at a place where I could soak up key learnings and bring them into my new business. After days of research, I decided on Starbucks.

I haven't been disappointed. My co-workers (partners, as we are called in the company) are genuinely nice, fun to work with and generous with their knowledge. I'm older than most of their mothers, but they communicate with me as though I were a contemporary. I plan to continue working for the company part-time even after my salon is finished and open for business.

It's the entire experience that Starbucks customers come in for... not just the great coffee or terrific espresso beverages. Our customers like that we remember them by name (some of the time) and by their favorite beverage (most of the time). They have fun in their interactions with us, whether it's joking around or talking about a local news story. Some of them have literally made Starbucks their "third place" (first and second being home and work).

If I can bring even a few of the basics from Starbucks' corporate culture into my new business, I will have succeeded wildly in meeting my goal. This is an incredible company of which I'm proud to be a part.

Jill W.

Jakub Bielikowski
Member

Posted 06-Jun-2006 03:43 AM
What is the fuss about Starbucks? Predictably good quality of coffee in convenient locations?? Nice place to stick around without being harassed by waiters? Place where you feel among people like you?

For me coffee, coffee drink, was most important, the ambience only a plus.

I have to admit that I go to Starbucks even in places like Istanbul where I should opt for local brew, which I sometimes do. In the US it is my primary choice (with few local exceptions in SF). But in the UK I shun it for places where I can drink true espresso. And I will never try Starbucks in Italy (but of course in France)...

Speaking of China, I was really hooked on Starbucks in Hong-Kong. Iced latte just at the office corner on the way from metro quelling autumnal heat. The touch was sugar syrup standing free on the counter, which you can use instead of sugar. That saved me explaining to non-English speaking staff that I want exactly 1.5 portion of sugar with my latte and pleading for it to be dissolved in the espresso before they add cold milk. Does this qualify as 'moment of truth'?

Or the small fact that I always can get short latte, even if it is not on the price list?

Graham Hill
Guru
Member

Posted 07-Jun-2006 02:57 AM
As Jakob inadvertently puts it, Starbucks provides a great place to have coffee how you like it, in nice ambient surroundings, without being hassled by tip-hungry waiters, sitting amongst people like yourself. And it is pretty much the same wherever you go around the world.

In short, it provides a consistent, high-quality customer experience that you can rely upon. It obviously works well for Starbucks' customers.

The coffee isn't the best—I visit my local McCafe in Germany rather than Starbucks because the coffee is much better—but it is well integrated into the whole experience.

I have also heard a lot of very positive things about Peet's in the USA as an even better, more authemtic alternative to Starbucks.

Take a look at the article from Strategy + Business on "The Barista Principle: The Rise of Relational Capital" (available from http://www.strategy-business.com/search/archives/?issue=&textfield=starbucks) which shows just how valuable outside-in relationships are in business and the chapter on Pret-A-Manger in Smith & Milligan's excellent book "Uncommon Practice: People who deliver a great brand experience" which provides a well rounded view of how superior customer experiences are created.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant

Terenceg
Member

Posted 08-Jun-2006 07:38 PM
In malaysia where i am slaving myself the starbucks experience is bias to the " Be seen" scale.

Everyone that sips a cuppa in starbucks will be noticed and considered " HAPPENING"

you ask malaysians about coffee ? a majority will prefer their local favourites of roadside stalls along with their favourite "roti Canai"
but something about PAYING RM 10 (USD3.8) for a cuppa, the objective is clearly on STATUS Smile

~Not all the Glitters is Gold~

Jim Barnes, CRMGuru Panelist
Advisory Board
Member
Picture of Jim Barnes, CRMGuru Panelist

Posted 19-Jun-2006 10:06 AM
Stabucks is about much more than the coffee, the consistency or the status associated with being seen there. As much as all of these, Starbucks is about a community; one of the essential components of relationship building. People who frequent Starbucks feel they "belong". Howard Schultz set out to make Starbucks that "third place" in people's lives—that place between home and work. Everywhere I go, I see students at Starbucks writing term papers, small business people holding meetings, salespeople updating their client files online. More than any other company in their industry, Starbucks has succeeded in creating a place where people gather for business as well as social reasons; it's a modern-day pub without the beer.

Jim Barnes specializes in Customer Strategy as a member of the CRMGuru Advisory Board. For more information, please visit Barnes Marketing Associates.

Graham Hill
Guru
Member

Posted 21-Jun-2006 12:43 AM
Jim

Is Starbucks really a "community" with all the common interest and social networking implications that community involves, or is it just a "third place" (as Howard Schultz describes it) where people happen to meet because it is convenient, comfortable, consistent and provides a good coffee experience for all of them.

I am not a regular visitor to Starbucks, but looking around the few times that I have been there, I do not see the community that you describe. Just lots of individuals or small groups who know each other, but don't know anybody else.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant