Starbucks Case: Issue Identification Analysis

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Issue identification
Market research had revealed that the company was not meeting the customer expectations in the area of customer satisfaction. After a market survey, the researchers found that customers wanted more. Specifically, they wanted better service and in particular a faster speed of service. It was observed that since some customers order customized drinks, the partners spend more time attending to them at the expense of serving other customers. Concisely, serving hand crafted drinks led to an increase in time of service for each customer.
Secondly, the market survey noticed that the Starbucks brand had some rough edges. Nearly 61% of the surveyed respondents thought that the company was all about making money. 55% of surveyed respondents thought that the company was primarily about building more stores Thus, it showed that it did not care about the customer.
Thirdly, most customers thought that the company was not offering different products from those offered by other coffee stores. This was affecting the brand image adversely. The quality of coffee offered was indistinguishable from that is offered from other coffee chains. Starbucks prided itself in its product quality and innovative products such as Frappuccino. However, the market thought that their products were not any different. This could explain why some customers preferred to customize their drinks. What Starbucks was offering was not quite to their liking.
Problem analysis
The key reasons why some customers were not satisfied was because of the quality of service they were receiving. Since a significant number of customers needed their drinks customized, the time of service increased. The customer waiting in the line would probably wait for longer. this explains why over half of the customers thought that the company was all about making money because they never seemed to ‘hire’ enough partners to serve them quickly. The profit motive in this case is hard to dispel since fewer partners meant less overhead of running the stores and hence higher profits. The customers felt that they were being sacrificed to advance the profit motive of the company.
Secondly, the market research data showed that the company had not differentiated itself in the industry. Most people thought that Starbucks products were not any different from that offered by other smaller coffee chains. It would be very easy to lose such customers since they were sure they could get similar products elsewhere. It showed that the company was not creating endearing products to the customer. This is exemplified by two findings; first, most customers were customizing their drinks. Tightly controlling the quality of drinks and products offered was falling short of the customers expectations. This led to increased time of service for each customer who ‘knew what he/she wanted.’ Secondly, Starbucks was not innovative and inventive enough if their products were indistinguishable from those of other smaller coffee houses. Customers were not coming to Starbucks because of their unique coffee but for other reasons.