Starbucks Case Study.docx, Exams of Industrial Technology

Download Starbucks Case Study.docx and more Exams Industrial Technology in PDF only on Docsity!

Starbucks Case Study Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name and Number Instructor's Name Assignment Due Date

Starbucks Case Study Starbucks is a US-based multinational company, which acts as a premier marketer, roaster, and retailer of specialty coffee across different parts of the world. The company has 29,000 stores across different countries (Starbucks Corporation, 2019). It specializes in selling handcrafted and roasted high-quality premium coffee, tea, several food items, among many other beverages. Based on its recent financial statements, Starbucks had revenue of $26.5 billion in the 2019 fiscal year, which was a 7% increase from 2018 (Starbucks Corporation, 2019). An increase was also noted on the operating income since, in 2019, the operating income was $4. billion, while in 2018, the operating income was $3.9 billion (Starbucks Corporation, 2019). These financial insights on the firm simply show that Starbucks is on the right business track, and the results also show the streamlining business efforts to focus on accelerating growth in the business. As such, this paper will focus on Starbucks' business strategy, how the firm has incorporated technology as well as the upcoming strategies that Starbucks can integrate into the business. Starbucks Business Strategy The business strategy of Starbucks is based on four main pillars, which include selling coffee of the highest quality, focusing on international expansion with the focus on emerging economies, offering a third-place experience, and integrating the use of technology on its business processes (Dudovskiy, 2017). More into detail, Starbucks stores are well-positioned as a third-place where people can relax and spend time with friends away from work or home. More so, most of the Starbucks stores within the US and other parts of the world have free internet to

its operations within the business. However, the firm recently bucked the trend of retail shopping towards e-commerce to focus on its customer’s experience and implement other technologies to use (Cowley, 2017). The firm is adamant that implementing the use of technology will improve its website and ensure easy processing of payments for quicker service delivery. More so, the use of technology within the firm will help achieve technology-related value addition by integrating its use in a wide range of business procedures and processes, such as completing sales, product development, monitoring level of customer satisfaction as well as communication of marketing messages (Soper, 2017). The most notable achievements of technology within the firm include the launching of the mobile payment application that allows customers to pay for services without lining up to purchase products (Soper, 2017). Besides, Starbucks has a voice ordering app for its customers. How Technology has Made Starbuck's Compete Starbucks is known for many reasons, globally. It is mainly recognized for its quality coffee, as well as its innovative use of technology. The company has turned to technological usage to brew up more effective relationships with its customers, as well as improve its services. It uses technology in various ways, with the most common one being social media usage. The company uses common social media platforms to allow fans or customers to air their views within the online space. Starbucks has been named several times as a top social media brand, which means the company's success has been facilitated through the use of social media platforms (Adkins, n.d).

The firm also has a Mobile Order & Pay application and a digital loyalty program. The mobile application helps Starbucks customers in paying and submitting orders (Baertlein, 2018). This app has made Starbucks complete because according to its 2016 end of year filing, close to 25% of sales were completed from the Mobile Order & Pay application (Starbucks Corporation, 2019). Even though this application had not been implemented in all Starbucks stores, it accounted for 6% of sales in the fourth quarter sales of FY 2016 (Starbucks: A Technology Pioneer, 2016). Jargon (2018) also asserts that the mobile coffee app will be available for all its clients, and it is not only to the loyalty program members. As such, this application has made Starbucks complete through three main things, which include decreasing the wait time for customers, reducing the bottleneck of processing payments and taking orders, and meeting the smooth demand and increasing employee utilization. The Mobile Order & Pay app is the revolution of a previous technology program initially developed to move the customers from its card loyalty program to the digital version of mobile payment. The previous card program enabled Starbucks to engage directly with its customers by offering promotion pricing and offering birthday rewards. Customers have rewarded loyalty stars when they use technology-driven companies, such as Spotify and Lyft, in which they have partnered with Starbucks. The use of technology has enabled Starbucks to offer the best service to its customers. Starbucks also uses technology brewing. The company has a single cup coffee maker known as clover. Clover uses a specified algorithm and a precise technology to brew coffee within a specific temperature and produce an ideal flavor of the coffee. This clover technology is

Starbucks' business strategy is based on selling coffee of the highest quality, focusing on international expansion, and integrating the use of technology in its business processes. All these strategies have been adequate for the firm, but adapting to technology use has been more effective. The use of technology has decreased the wait time for customers and reduced the bottleneck of processing payments and taking orders through the Mobile Order &Pay, as noted in this paper. References Adkins, A. (n.d). Starbucks & Its Use of Technology. Chron. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/starbucks-its-use-technology-28272.html Baertlein, L. (2018, March). Starbucks' Mobile Order Push Meets Resistance from Ritual Seekers. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-starbucks-mobileorder/starbucks-mobile-order-push- meets-resistance-from-ritual-seekers-idUSKBN1GX0KA Cowley, S. (2017, Oct). Starbucks Closes Online Store to Focus on In-Person Experience. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/01/business/starbucks-online-store.html Dudovskiy, J. (2017, April). Starbucks Business Strategy and Competitive Advantage. Research Methodology. https://research-methodology.net/starbucks-coffee-business-strategy-2/

Hawley, J. (2019). Who Are Starbucks' Main Competitors? Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/101315/who-are-starbucks-main-competit ors.asp Jargon, J. (2018, March). Starbucks Aims for More Mobile Orders. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/starbucks-aims-for-more-mobile-orders- Soper, T. (2017). Starbucks Is a Tech Company: Why the Coffee Giant Is Investing Heavily In Digital Innovation. Geek Wire. https://www.geekwire.com/2017/starbucks-tech-company-coffee-giant-investing-heavily- digital-innovation/ Starbucks Corporation. (2019, September). Starbucks Corporation: Form 10-K: For the Fiscal Year Ended September 29, 2019. SEC Reports. https://sec.report/Document/0000829224-19-000051/ Starbucks: A Technology Pioneer. (2016, Nov). https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/starbucks-a-technology-pioneer/#