This addition to the situation analysis component of the marketing plan for the Starbucks Corporation focuses on five factors/topics. The five factors/topics are (a) the company, (b) the competition, (c) environmental trends, (d) customer analysis, and (e) SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats) analysis.
Company Analysis - Starbucks Corporation
The company analysis focuses on three topical factors or issues. These factors and issues are as follows: (a) current target markets, (b) current marketing mix strategies, and (c) the strengths and weaknesses of the Company.
For most Starbucks most consumers, coffee is not just coffee. Rather, it is a ritualistic experience or a deserved (self-perceived) reward. This target market is defined (for the most part) as young (25-to-45 years old) professional men and women, in higher income brackets with stressful lives (at work, home, or both). Most members of this target market live in the suburbs and commute to work in urban areas (Holmes, Bennett, Carlisle, & Dawson, 2002).
The Company's marketing mix strategies are discussed in relation to the Five P's of Marketing. The elements of Five P's of Marketing include product, position, price, place, and promotion (Kotler, 2002).
Starbucks is the leading retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee in North America. The company has more than 9,000 retail locations for the distribution of its products, approximately 6,500 of which are located in the United States (Starbucks Corporation, 2005). The Company also supplies institutional accounts with coffee and coffee-making equipment. Starbucks also operates a national mail order service in the United States, and the Company participates in several joint ventures, such as the one with PepsiCo to develop and market a coffee-based soft-drink beverage, Frappuccino, which is a low-fat coffee beverage, and the one with Dreyer's, which produces and markets a line of coffe...