Page 139 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 4

Starbucks leadership explained the basic distinctions in cof-
fee quality, from the species of bean to the four fundamen-
tals of a great cup of coffee (proportion, grind, water, and
freshness). This educational approach reverberated in a cul-
ture that highly values information.
In essence, leadership set out to teach consumers impor-
tant distinctions between the coffee that was routinely avail-
able and the improved quality that Starbucks could offer.
Through education, Starbucks leadership took initial market
resistance, born from a lack of exposure to gourmet coffee,
and turned it into a booming, sophisticated Japanese coffee
market.
In fact, Ginny Parker reports that the world’s busiest
Starbucks is “not in Seattle, San Francisco, or New York.
It’s smack in the middle of Tokyo. The American coffee
124 chain is finding that Asia is a vast, thirsty, and untapped
market. From Beijing to Bangkok, it is converting tea-lovers
into fans of Frappuccino and other frothy coffee drinks.”
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Ginny noted that in a short span of time, Starbucks leader-
ship secured 250 stores in 10 key Asian markets. Through
a continued focus on educating people in response to resist-
ance, the number of Starbucks stores is now over 500 in
Japan alone.
While Asian markets required education to overcome
resistance, Starbucks faced a very sophisticated coffee con-
sumer upon opening stores in France. Odilia d’Aramon-
Guepín, director of Marketing in France, notes, “Starbucks
offered a new and different coffee experience. Our customers
were perhaps not aware of the concept of ordering and pay-
ing before enjoying their beverages, or even to giving their
first name to the barista taking their orders. But with time,
French patrons have embraced this special human connection