Starbucks’ Primary Competitors

Despite phenomenal growth and success of the Starbucks coffee company that has created a second home for customers where they often stop on their way to and from work, the firm is in constant competition with primary competitors such McDonald’s, Costa Coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts (Brizek, 2015). For instance, back in 2006, Dunkin’ focused the war against Starbucks when launched a campaign ad “America runs on Dunkin’.” According to Brizek (2015), McDonald’s has been known as food outlet but the global franchise joined the competition by introducing flavored and iced coffee outperforming Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Starbucks Strategies for Competitive Advantage

Integration of the technology in the company’s daily operation enabled Starbucks to develop the website to ease payment processes quicker for customers who were initially waiting in queues.  The technology allowed communication of the marketing information and monitoring levels of customer satisfaction (Bhasin, 2018).  The Starbucks launched a mobile order and payment feature that allowed clients to purchase coffee without getting in the line. In recent years the company has invested in brick-and-mortar location by expanding company products. More so the firm focuses on remodeling its restaurants to create strong brands and customer loyalty program such rewards that resulted in revamping of sales (Bhasin, 2018). Further, Starbucks sells the highest quality coffee as a strategy for communicating to customers on its product differentiation from competitors’ brands. The analysis suggests excellent customer service is one of the primary source achieving a competitive advantage that increases attractive of the giant coffee retailer.

References

Bhasin, H. (2018, September 2). Top 11 Starbucks Competitors – Competitor Analysis Of Starbucks. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/starbucks-competitors

Brizek, M. G. (2015). Coffee wars: The big three: Starbucks, McDonald’s and Dunkin’Donuts. Journal of Case Research in Business & Economics, 5, 1-12.