Howard Schultz Is The Best Prepared Food Merchant

If success leaves clues and they do.  One clue is success is much easier when you are prepared.  That got our Grocerant Guru™ wondering, was Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ever a Boy Scout? We all know the Boy Scout motto is ”Be Prepared”.  There is no other retail food merchant as prepared to win as Howard Schultz according to the consensus of Foodservice Solutions® analytic team.

Last week when Starbucks Coffee Company continued its educate and elevate initiatives sharing with over 2000 district managers what it learned over the past year and how they plan to edify the Starbucks brand to

further transform and elevate the Starbucks Experience in Holiday 2014 and beyond.

What Starbucks Learned

Schultz stated: “Holiday 2013 witnessed a seismic shift in consumer behavior in which many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers experienced a decline in foot traffic compared to significant growth in online shopping”

He continued: “Customers researched, compared prices, and then bought the brands and items they wanted online, frequently utilizing a mobile device to do so. Since that time, we have been focused on radically redefining the Starbucks retail experience for our partners, customers and stores. As a result of the work we’ve done, Starbucks is poised for a great holiday – our innovation pipeline is strong and we have a number of initiatives ready to launch during the holiday and into calendar 2015 and beyond,” Since last winter, the company has completely reimagined the holiday experience in stores for this shopping

What Starbucks Knew

Starbucks knew  that for  “U.S. consumers today, innovation means basically one thing: convenience.”

In a recent GfK Roper Reports study, almost eight in 10 people (78 percent) said innovation is about finding faster ways of doing things; slightly less felt it was about finding “easier” ways. All other possible answers scored at least 30 percentage points behind. U.S. consumers seem to have an insatiable desire for cutting corners and they expect the companies they do business with to rise to the occasion.”

In addition Starbucks new that a  U.S. Labor Department study found working parents with children have about an hour a day for meal preparation and consumption  and that includes breakfast and dinner.

 Starbucks in Action Integrating Knowledge & Learnings

1. Starbucks Gift Card and Ecommerce Expansion Coming Holiday 2014
2. First-Ever Starbucks for Life Contest Coming Holiday 2014
3. Mobile Ordering is now being tested with 2015 roll out planned
4. Starbucks edified its Rewards Program Design and Marketing
5. In January all Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors will get a pay increase. Experienced Partners who are at or above their pay range and eligible will get a lump sum increase.

Success does leave clues and regular readers of this blog know our team often states “The customer is dynamic not static and your company must be as well.”  Clearly Starbucks is prepared, positioned, and planning for continued success.  What did you learn last year?  What did you do with that knowledge?

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information