ng goal for its marketing strategy, a monthly sales growth of 20% to 25% (Murphy, 2001). Through aggressive expansion, cross-promotion, alliance formation, joint ventures overseas, and centralized market strategy control from the U.S., Starbucks hopes to achieve this goal. The marketing mix includes the 4 Ps of product, place, distribution, price, and promotion. All Starbucks offer a choice of regular and decaffeinated coffee. There is a ôcoffee of the dayö selection that changes, a broad selection of Italian-style espresso beverages. According to Ocampo and McCrohan (1998):
The product mix in each store varies and depends on the
size of the store and its location. Larger stores carry a revolving selection of coffee and typically include 30 of the companyÆs more than 50 varieties of whole bean coffers and a range of coffee-related products (4).
Placement or distribution is all about getting the product in front of the consumers who want it. In 1992 Starbucks went public and radically altered its marketing strategy from franchising to directly controlled outlets. This strategy included forming alliances with retail channels such as airlines, bookstore chains, supermarkets and others. In 1995 the company pursued an aggressive global expansion, increasing its number of stores that year alone from 676 outlets to 101
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