The media has certainly publicized Starbucks challenges in the past year, as the company tries to re-align itself to market changes.
A big change is that while people still consume coffee, how they consume coffee may be changing a lot.
For a long time, we had barista prepared espresso drinks, made and served at espresso cafes.
Today, more people are now making their own espresso and coffee drinks at home.
Also, many, especially younger consumers, are opting for prepared canned and bottled coffee drinks, instead of “just in time” made at the espresso shop.
This is a big change in how coffee is sold and consumed. It suggests that espresso shops may need to be selling more ready-made coffee products (canned and bottled), and other types of coffee drinks. Of course, this puts them into competition with grocery stores which generally stock bottled coffee drinks.
This also means the “in cafe” experience needs to be better to attract customers to the espresso shops.
This gets to cafe ambiance. I used to stop at local coffee shops, including Starbucks, partly to meet with others, and partly sometimes by myself just to get of the office. 5 or more years ago, when I did that, even my local Starbucks had things like soft chairs and a “coffee culture” ambiance. Today, not so much – all of the cafes near me have hard chairs and tables. They are neither comfortable nor quiet environments to hang out in.
In fact, 2 of the Starbucks I used to stop out when to hard surfaces and turned up the music to uncomfortable levels. They literally did not want customers to stay in their stores. In which case, we may as well buy bottled or canned coffee drinks at the grocery store.
Many coffee shops lost their way – just as consumer preferences changed.
Will changes to their stores cause customers to return?
