Starbucks Plans to Attract More Customers In Afternoon Hours

The big coffee giant "Starbucks" has recently decided that their famous coffee is not selling very well during the noon hours between lunch and dinner. Starbucks noted satisfaction with the morning breakfast crowd who amounts to more than half of their business with 59% of sales from coffee lovers and junkies,  but only 23% of sales are in the afternoon as a result, revenue has declined. Starbucks analysis on customer behavior pointed out that a small crowd of customers (the occasional customer) who visit the coffee store in the afternoon hours are those who go to Starbucks between one to five times a month. As a result Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Rosalind Brewer stated "we must perform in both day-parts".

Although Starbucks is known for little to no advertisement, now the company has opt for a marketing strategy to increase sales and attract customers during the noon and dinner hours. Recently, Starbucks decided to sell packed coffee to Nestle for $7 billion dollars for supermarket distribution. Also the coffee giant has decided to offer a more wide selection of cold coffee, teas, better food and introducing happy hour in an attempt to increase sales traffic to those 5.4 billion visitors to fast-food restaurants like McDonald's or Dunkin' Donuts.

I chose this article because I am a regular Starbucks customer, however I go to Starbucks at different times of the day. I mainly stick to my favorite cold drink (caramel frappuccino) grande. I downsized from the venti, to reduce calories and cost. I can understand why Starbucks is concerned about the noon hours, the times I have gone during those hours the coffee house is almost empty.

In this article I can see that Starbucks is dealing with two marketing subjects: one is product and the other is promotion. With product, Starbucks is going to introduce more variety of cold drinks, teas and improve the selection and look of the food they provide to attract customers who actually want to eat a meal. On the aspect of promotion, the company is using happy hour which is a marketing strategy that reduces the price of drinks during certain times of day
to attract traffic to the place of business.

Link: Starbucks Trying to Woo Afternoon Customers