Brand Plan for

Starbucks
Small Business & Retail Management
Mohammad Ali

20130086

Faruk M. Azad

20130006

Research Lecturer: Dr. Eddy Tukamushaba

Table of Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................... 2
Chapter 1: Introduction.......................................................................................... 3
1.1: Context........................................................................................................ 3
1.2: Motive.......................................................................................................... 5
1.3: Objective..................................................................................................... 6
1.4: Problem Statement...................................................................................... 7
1.5: Conceptual Model........................................................................................ 7
1.6: Research Objectives.................................................................................... 9
Chapter 2: Methodology...................................................................................... 10
2.1. Research Design........................................................................................ 10
2.2. Instruments............................................................................................... 11
2.3. Analyses.................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 3: Developments in Retail......................................................................13
Chapter 4: Retail Inspirations..............................................................................16
Chapter 5: Customer Journey............................................................................... 16
Chapter 6: Current Brand Performance and Improvements.................................17
Chapter 7: Conclusions........................................................................................ 19
Chapter 8: Recommendations............................................................................. 20
Chapter 9: References......................................................................................... 21
Chapter 10: Appendix.......................................................................................... 23

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Executive Summary

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Every business seeks growth and brand recognition which helps a
business grow and makes the customer feel satisfied and they are ready
to pay a premium price for the product offered. Customer loyalty towards
a brand is the reward for the brand which comes when customers are
completely satisfied. On the other hand, not only the customers but
internal employees are also satisfied and happy which makes the
environment a better place to work thus creating a strong foundation of
Brand with Internal and External customers. As Kotler defined Branding,
distinction from other products or company is the core of creating ones
own identity (Kotler, 2008). But what makes a successful brand is its
communication to customers and building a strong perception in the
minds of the customers with the brand uniqueness.
Marketing communication creates a relationship between customers and
the organization and directs the buying behaviour of the consumers. The
tools of marketing communication help add value and maximize the profit
for the brand. Overall, consent marketing communications helps create
demand for products

and services which might be unrecognized

otherwise.
Starbucks, today, is considered as the specialized coffee supplier through
their retail stores where they provide a range of selected coffees to the
customers and have been a huge success in the last few decades. A lot of
efforts have been put in for making the Starbucks a huge success through
various strategical tools. For Brand management, a lot of investment has
been allocated that resulted in creating a strong consumer base (Kotler,
2009). The present study focuses on the importance and of marketing
communications of Starbucks successful efforts.

1.1: Context
The positioning of Starbucks as a high quality brand for a wide range of
customers has been a success through it marketing communication efforts
and, now, good quality a product along with enriched customer
experience has made customers pay a premium price. The brand has
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differentiated itself with other coffee providers by creating a loyalty

among the customers through its priority on customer service and a
sound customer relationship management program which involves
integration of customers with customers. But, success is not permanent
and a lot of effort has to be made to ensure the success keeps earning its
benefit with changing time and pattern in the customers and market.

Though customers have helped Starbucks grow and expand across the
globe and have been perceived as good coffee taste along with a
comfortable ambience to enjoy the coffee, and the image is carved out as
a key element to its success. Furthermore, the choice of furniture and
fixtures, the names of its drinks, the messages on the cups, the graphics,
its all been studiously crafted (Hanft, 2005). Starbucks have adopted a
strategy of being cultural brand by bonding itself to the culture and thus
have been effective as a word to mouth advertisers. But researchers have
claimed that it was losing its bond with the customers (Luttinger, 2006).
The cause has been supported by other researchers as well which states
that the same initial successful branding strategy proven to have
drawbacks (Thompson, 2004; Thompson, 2006). In the following
discussion, it is clear that Starbucks have some drawbacks in its branding
strategies which do not limit its success but raises concerns for its future
branding strategy.
The retailer can reach consumers in a better way by building and
developing communication upon numerous different channels. (Floor,
2006). When the retailer is communicating the message to the consumers
it should have consistency between all branding elements.

1.2: Motive
Starbucks corporation is an is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain, founded
in Seattle Washington in 1971. Currently it has 23,450 locations worldwide. In Qatar
Starbucks is a franchise of Al shaya international trading and has 17 outlets throughout the
country.
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Starbucks has been characterized as an identity brand since consumers adore the brand in
creating their own identity as suggested by Thompson, 2006. Starbucks is operating in the
Middle East and North Africa region as well, which poses a question for the management to
practice the same strategy for KSA, Qatar, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Therefore, management is keen to learn that if branding is about creating history which is
linked to consumers image then how are consumers from Middle East convinced and served
for loyalty.
The purpose of this research is to explore how Starbucks can develop consistency in their instore as well as out of store communication tools. In the future Starbucks will be able to
strengthen its brand identity which will help them to increase their market share in Qatar.

1.3: Objective
The objective of this brand plan is to identify the in store communication errors and to
provide suitable recommendations so Starbucks can strengthen their brand identity in Qatar.
Furthermore, this brand plan will also provide recommendations to Starbucks management on
how to improve consistency throughout their retail outlets.

1.4: Problem Statement

Currently at Starbucks outlets in Qatar, there is no consistency in their instore communication which is affecting their brand identity. Each outlet
provides a different format of receipts upon purchases to its customers
and the content also doesnt reflect consistency.
How can Starbucks develop their in-store communication to improve their
brand identity?

1.5: Conceptual Model

In-store

Brand

communication

Perception
Brand

Brand

Positioning
Brand

Identity

Brand Communication

Personality
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Figure 1: Conceptual model

Brand positioning, personality and communication are the components of Brand identity and
each component have its own importance which differs according to industry and
requirements. Brand positioning is placing the product into customers mind (Ries, 1985).
As per the above conceptual model, brand personality is the face of the brand, i.e. human
characteristics associated with the brand (Aaker, 1996) which could be described in terms of
competence, sincerity, outdoorsy etc. As positioning represents what of brand and
personality as who so communication represents how to take Brands to the consumers.
In addition, Brand identity is defined by Aaker as, a unique set of brand associations that the
brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand
stands for and imply a promise to customers from organization members (Aaker, 1996). In
continuing the approach of brand identity. The conceptual model, figure 1, illustrates the
importance of brand communication for an organization which is a part of the overall brand
identity. It is further divided into a sub-groups of in-store and out of store communication.

1.6: Research Objectives

The following research questions has been formulated to explain the problem statement in
detail.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

What is brand identity?

How customers perceive Starbucks?
Describe the brand personality of Starbucks
Explain the positioning of Starbucks
Explain the consistency of Starbucks in store communication.
What improvements need to be done to strengthen their brand identity?
Recommend Starbucks on how they can improve their in store
Describe the current trends and developments in retail business

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Chapter 2: Methodology
The aim of the study was to understand the concepts of branding and there relation to brand
identity as explained in conceptual model as well as to assess the key underline factors that
are deemed to be critical in improving brand communication of Starbucks. The three
Starbucks outlets included in this study were Hamad Medical Cooperation, Landmark and
Villagio. These stores were selected because they are in same geographical area.
This chapter describes the design and research methodology that is applied to describe the
physical activities. As well as it includes a description of the research sceneries and data
collections, finally it describes the instruments used and how data is analysed.
2.1. Research Design
Research design is a detailed outline of how an investigation will take place. It typically
includes how data is to be collected, what instruments will be used and the means for
analysing data collected (De Vaus).
For this brand plan the information and data that was gathered was collected in an open way
which was unstructured. From this the most suitable research design is descriptive design and
exploratory design in order to answer the research objectives and problem statement.
Descriptive research designs help provide answers to the questions of who, what, when,
where, and how associated with a particular research problem; a descriptive study cannot
conclusively ascertain answers to why. Descriptive research is used to obtain information

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concerning the current status of the phenomena and to describe "what exists" with respect to
variables or conditions in a situation (De Vaus).
Whereas exploratory research design is conducted about a research problem when there are
few or no earlier studies to refer to or rely upon to predict an outcome. The focus is on
gaining insights and familiarity for later investigation or undertaken when research problems
are in a preliminary stage of investigation. Exploratory designs are often used to establish an
understanding of how best to proceed in studying an issue or what methodology would
effectively apply to gathering information about the issue (De Vaus).
Both exploratory and descriptive research design will be used to answer the research
objectives as there needs to be background of theories for supporting the findings.
2.2. Instruments
Research instruments are the fact finding strategies. They are the tools for data collection.
They include questionnaire, interview, observation and reading. Essentially the researcher
must ensure that the instrument chosen is valid and reliable. The validity and reliability of
any research project depends to a large extent on the appropriateness of the instruments.
Whatever procedure one uses to collect data, it must be critically examined to check the
extent to which it is likely to give you the expected results (Annum, G. (2015)).
According to the nature of our problem statement and research objectives mentioned in the
previous chapter, the following research instruments will be used for data collection.

Desk research
Observational research

Desk research includes secondary data is the most common and effective way of gathering
data due to quickness in gathering the information and data. It includes reading and
understanding the work of other researchers which has being published online or in books
and journals. According to the research questions the following books Branding a store by
Ko Floor and One to one by Michel van Tongeren were used as their main focus is on
understanding retail developments and branding.
Furthermore the observational research will assess the key factors related to in store
communication of Starbucks coffee. According to Floor (2006), store design, visual
merchandising and employees are the three major part of in store communication.

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Finally interviews and questionnaires are usually the most widely used method in qualitative
research to gather information. We did and interview with the district manager of Starbucks
as mentioned above. And we created a structured questionnaire to ask customers at various
outlets in Qatar. The chosen methods for the brand plan are supposed to provide the
objectives and problem statement which was mentioned in chapter one with answers.
2.3. Analysis
In this chapter, we identified the analytical methods used in this brand
plan. There are a number of different approaches to research design,
quantitative approach usually uses a large number of observations.
Whereas qualitative approach uses less observations which are in great
detail. Finally the third approach is mixed method where there is a mix of
both quantitative and qualitative approach. All the information which we
gather needs to be reliable and valid at the same time. We have used
both qualitative and quantitative approach due to the nature of our
problem statements and research questions. Since all the important
information has been separated, it will be used to find the answers to the
research questions. All the information needs to be valid and reliable and
should have meaning and significance to the final outcome of the
analysis.
Research objectives
1
2
3
4
5

What is brand identity?

How customers perceive Starbucks?
Describe the brand personality of Starbucks
Explain the positioning of Starbucks
Explain the consistency of Starbucks in store

Document

Observatio

ary

nal

communication
What improvements need to be done to

strengthen their brand identity?

Recommend Starbucks on how they can

improve their in store

Describe the current trends and developments in retail

business.
Figure 2:

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Chapter 3: Developments in Retail

With the every so growing retail industry which has started to get more
and more organized it has become easier to capture on the great market
potential available. There has been a great emergence in various retail
format for example mega malls, supermarkets, hypermarkets and
department stores such as Lulu and Carrefour. From this we can see that
change in the retail business management and how difficult it has become
to survive and bring out new changes to the business environment. The
whole retail environment is witnessing numerous changes through
technology. The retail world environment is witnessing trends which are
the forefront of development in retail.
All these developments help consumers tap and figure the benefits
brought to them by the service providers. Nowadays brands are informing
the consumers about new product launches, pricing, quality and what
competitors have to offer and what they offer. Employees working are
being trained specifically on a number of various aspects of customer
service. This makes them more equipped to the needs of the customer
such as informing the consumer about products. Customers now have
better options and can base their decision on suggestions from
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employees. Moving onto technology, there are various online discussions

and forums, where consumers can ask anything related to a product or
service and someone from the company will reply back with an answer.
When a customer checkouts, they are asked about their personal data
including name and contact details. From this retailers are able to
categorize and send specific messages about promotions for the customer
and some even send the invoices through email in case the customer
wants to exchange or refund the products within the time period. This has
helped brands build loyalty among the customers. Customers are better
informed about deals and discounts going on at various brands, and from
this they can make decisions about shopping using the vis--vis pricing.
Since technology keeps evolving and changing, customers are able to use
the benefits providing in making a decision. They can also test out a new
product through a number of new ways including digital services. To
facilitate the service better, algorithms are being used by the retailers to
help customers notice new products. The process of shopping is being
made simple with services like automated curation where catalogue
pages are determined on the basis of tastes of individuals. Not only tastes
of individuals but large scale customization are also a feature of digital
platform. With the aid of manufacturing technologies, there is a huge
potential for customers to customize the products and services and the
organization will provide it. An example of this is when someone goes for
furniture shopping at Ikea they are able to choose and customize the
product through the online webstore and it will be ready for pick up at the
store at the convince of the customer.
The revolutionizing techniques also include incentives for the buyers or
influencers and hence, consumers purchase brand products online
through creating their own page, recommending products and earn cash
backs on purchase or incentives. With the help of social networks, fewer
buyers are encouraged, motivated and convinced by the frequent buyers
or consumers who are involved with particular brands are hired by the
brands to talk to other consumers for decision making. All the trends
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discussed above suggest that branded content are more exploited through
social media marketing which has reduced the scope of traditional media
tools. New and emerging mentality of consumers has its own challenges
which are faced with better and dynamic challengers which are placed
better with the required knowledge.
Earlier store size and design used matter a lot, however with the rapidly
changing retail environment store size doesnt matter anymore to
customers. Now the market place is characterized by asymmetric
competitions and thus intelligence, creativity and adaptability have
become important tools to inspire consumers. In another context,
recession globally also affects consumers and their buying behaviour
which usually makes them spend less and look for the cheaper products,
and hence, retailers have change their product pricing with value for
money. It is multiple channels of communications, online and social media,
which has changed the consumer decision processes. The decision
process is greatly affected by the experiences of other consumers which
are discussed openly and shared easily and the process involves pre-tail,
retail and post-tail as below (Magnus, 2016);

PRE-TAIL

RETAIL

POST-TAIL

Researching and comparing alternatives

by using:
Sharing
experiences and conquests
Getting more
detailed information while
in store:
Online search
Word of mouth
In-store communication/ signage/staff
Word of mouth
Social networks
In-store search with help of mobile devices
Social networks
Ads
Apps

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Good and bad experiences

are being used by other
consumers to facilitate
their own decision process

Figure 5: Consumer decision process

Chapter 4: Retail Inspirations

During week four of the module, we went on a field trip in order to gain inspiration for the
brand plan. We visited various brands such as supermarkets, fashion stores, food retailers and
technology stores. Some of the brands we visited were Ikea Qatar, Lagona Mall; Gulf Mall
and CGC Qatar store. The main focus of our field trip was on brand design, positioning and
new technologies and how it has impacted retailers.

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When studying strong brands, it is important to understand how to build one, what are the key
elements involved in the process. There are different levels when one builds a successful
brand; it starts with understanding and defining the factors involved. The second level
involves the brand identity elements which have to be identified. Finally the third level
illustrates how other factors are connected to the base of branding.

Chapter 5: Customer Journey

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Chapter 6: Current Brand Performance and

Improvements

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Chapter 7: Conclusions

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Chapter 8: Recommendations

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Chapter 9: References
Hanft, A., 2005. What You Can Learn From Starbucks. Available at:
www.Inc.com/Articles/Marketing[Accessed 10 Feb 2016].

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Holt, D., 2004. How Brands Become Icons The Principles of Cultural Branding.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Koehn, N., 2001. Brand new how entrepreneurs earned consumers trust from
Wedgwood to Dell. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Kotler P., A. G., 2008. Principles of Marketing. 10th Edn ed. New York: Prentice Hall
Inc.
Kotler, P. &. K. K. L., 2009. Marketing management. (6th ed.) ed. Upper Saddle
River, N.J: Chicago: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Lerpold, L., 2007. Organizational identity in practice. London: Routledge.
Luttinger, N. &. D. G., 2006. The Coffee book: Anatomy of an industry from the crop
to the last drop. New York: New Press.
Luttinger, N. &. D. G., 2006. The Coffee book: Anatomy of an industry from the crop
to the last drop.. New York: New Press.
Lyons, J., 2005. Think seattle, act globally. Cultural Studies, 19(1), pp. 14-34.
Matt, H., 2006. Poraki marek. Warszawa: Najwiksze wpadki rekinw biznesu.
McCracken, G., 2005. Culture and Consumption II Markets, Meaning, and Brand
Management. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
McCracken, G., 2006. Flock and flow Predicting and managing change in a dynamic
marketplace. Bloomington: IN: Indiana University Press.
McCracken, G., 2008. Transformations Identity construction in contemporary
culture.. Bloomington: IN: Indiana University Press..
Park, C. M. D. &. P. J., 2006. Chapter 3: What Causes Attachment?. In: 3. Ed., ed.
Brand Attachment: Constructs, Consequences, and Causes. s.l.:Now Publishers, pp. 202-209.
Pendergrast, M., 2001. Uncommon grounds: the history of coffee and how it
transformed our world. New York: Texere.

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Thompson, C. &. A. Z., 2004. The Starbucks Brandscape and Consumers

(Anticorporate) Experiences of Glocalization. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(3), pp. 631642.
Thompson, C. R. A. &. A. Z., 2006. Emotional Branding and the Strategic Value of
the Doppelgnger Brand Image. Journal of Marketing, 70(1), pp. 50-64.

De Vaus. (n.d.). Research Guides. Retrieved March 02, 2016, from

http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/researchdesigns
Annum, G. (n.d.). Research Instruments for Data Collection. Retrieved
March 6, 2016.

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Chapter 10: Appendix

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