Background
Starbucks Corporation is a multinational coffeehouse chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington. For younger generations, Starbucks has simply appeared to always be around and always be successful, but older generations witnessed how Starbucks’ high value for market research helped it become the largest coffeehouse chain in the world.
Starbucks’ Market Research
Even with Starbucks’ fame, its brand depends on market research to understand more about its customers’ preferences—because these are constantly in flux.
The company’s approach to market research includes the following:
- testing in-store products
- keeping a sharp eye on social media
- tracking cultural trends
- gathering feedback directly from customers (My Starbucks Idea)
In-Store Product Testing
Product test allows a company to determine how well a product will perform among a particular target audience. This step is crucial in deciding whether to roll out new products, a process necessary to stay relevant but that could potentially be very costly. Starbucks conducts this research by strategically choosing a few stores and locations in which to temporarily roll out new products to evaluate how well they do in real time. This method is used in addition to in-home tests, a more common and less costly strategy, but the company’s unique in-store strategy has proven to be incredibly successful. While it is more costly (and, therefore, riskier), this method collects more feedback from a wider range of customers.
Social Media Surveillance
Monitoring social media allows a brand to see for itself what people are saying about it and its products across various social media platforms. It would certainly be impossible to look at every comment consumers make about the company, but with the rise of social media, it only makes sense for every company to consider feedback and preferences mentioned on these platforms. Starbucks surveils these platforms and analyzes sentiments portrayed until the feedback consumed through social media becomes actionable.
Cultural Trend Tracking and Segmentation
By grouping its consumers into different market segments, Starbucks is able to perceive new and changing information about groups that make up the brand’s overarching audience. This is particularly useful for companies like Starbucks that then build different marketing strategies to target certain segments. For example, after identifying sustainability and dairy allergies as priorities for a sizeable segment, Starbucks decided to offer several non-dairy choices at many of its locations to fill this preference.
My Starbucks Idea
In 2008, Starbucks created its My Starbucks Idea platform to gain feedback even more directly from its customers (both future and preexisting) and employees. On this blog, customers and employees are able to post ideas for food items or drinks that they would like to see in addition to feedback about discontinued and existing products. Over 100,000 customers engaged with each other and Starbucks through this platform through posts and responses, cultivating even more of a community around the brand. Starbucks has since proved to its customers that it listens to this feedback, taking several suggestions over the years including one of its most popular seasonal products, the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Takeaway
In addition to engaging in all of the traditional methods of obtaining information regarding customers preferences, Starbucks has gone above and beyond in implementing new methods of doing so. The company’s resulting growth and lasting successes clearly points to the power of market research—particularly market research directly from the source, or its customers—and sets a high standard for competing brands.
Post Inspiration: https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/starbucks-market-research-strategy/