Starbucks' Getting Cold

While browsing my Bloglines subscriptions, I came across an article on Diva Marketing about Starbucks that caught my eye, mostly because Starbucks is one of my all-time favorite companies. I enjoy their product and the employees that provide them to me. However, the article spoke much less about the good of Starbucks and much more on the negatives they are currently facing.

The company has been, for a long-time, planning to massively expand the scope and number of their shop locations. Their current goal is to have 40,000 locations world-wide. This is up from an original goal of 30,000 shops just a few months ago. This came into effect during last semester, when I had been working on a project for my marketing research class involving Starbucks. The major issue with this huge expansion is the fact that it could potentially take away the key competitive advantage that Starbucks has offered its consumers over the course of the years. Atmosphere. Starbucks has been selling much more than just premium coffee - it’s been selling friendly, knowledgeable baristas, warm and relaxed atmosphere, and a place to get away from the grind of daily life. Hence, what they would call the 'Starbucks Experience'. The initial premise was for Starbucks to be a community-oriented, local coffee shop. This raises the question if this distinction can hold true when a different location exists every time you round the corner.

Until the article peaked my interest, I hadn’t considered the lost of atmosphere very much. I’m a generally busy college student, caught here-and-there between school and work and the occasional night out. But reflecting on it, it’s been rare for me to linger in Starbucks as I once did. The community events held at the Newark location have become far and few between, though they did have a store scrap book during the holiday season where you could take a Polaroid and add your own page (quite nice). But the same poems and drawings from local schools reside on their walls, leading me to believe that their involvement with the locals dwindles with each-and-every day, as the need (or desire, rather) to grow financially takes control.

It’s a major concern that this growth will not only lose what once separated them, but specifically that they will become a commodity product – such as fast food chains. This could potentially expose Starbucks to a mass amount of competitors, as companies like McDonald’s up the ante on coffee products.

The personal relationship could be easily lost, and asking a barista for a drink suggestion on a drive-thru line might not bode well with all those people behind you. Starbucks once gave you a reason to come to the shop…and stay there. What was once an oasis may now become just another in-and-out routine. But does that mean I’ll be giving up my black-and-white mochas anytime soon? Certainly not.