Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Starbucks new obsession with tea



Starbucks is usually a place where you would pick up a coffee on your way to work or to start your day. Teavana is said to be more of a ‘stop for lunch’ place, where consumers can relax with a cup of tea and enjoy a small lunch with friends and coworkers. Starbucks CEO exclaims the two beverages shops are “like night and day”.

The pricing is a little bit steeper than Starbucks. At the Teavana tea bar, you can get a salad for 14.95 and a cup of tea for 5.95. But, it’s all about the experience right?

Personally, I think it is an awesome idea. It is new and innovative and the company is creating a competitive advantage compared to its few competitors. While using the social media to advertise for this new addition to the Starbucks brand, I think it needs to be specialized. It will be best to use indirect marketing strategies, because it’s all about the tea. The company can reach out to its already loyal customers by providing a coupon or simply a small post card giving information about the tea bar.

To get new customers in, utilize current media to put out thought leadership about tea and only tea. The benefits of tea, who drinks tea, pictures of your target audience drinking tea...the possibilities are endless.

The popularity of tea is growing. Starbucks recorded that tea use to be less than one percent of what was sold. Now, the tea industry is a 90 billion global market. On that note, I’ll start the kettle.

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