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Starbucks falsely blaming the economy for faltering sales
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Americans appear to be cutting back on their Starbucks. After reporters in several different cities noticed much shorter lines at their coffee outlets, Ad Age decided to commission Lightspeed Research to find out whether either New Year's resolutions or a tough economy were turning latte sippers into bean counters.
Once again we find another company that has decided to blame the current economic climate on all of their ills. It appears to be easy to forget that Starbucks has been in decline for quite some time.
According to this reported memo (not confirmed) in 2007 by Chairman Howard Schultz to CEO Jim Donald:
Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.
I have long maintained that Starbucks (commonly known in my circle of friends as "Five Bucks") has failed to recognized that besides the cost of their products, some people reject their social causes and mission. This objection takes their would-be consumers to other establishments for their java fix.
As for the survey that was the impetuous of this story by Ad Age, as my own company (a.k.a. "day job") competes in the same space, I will not comment on the methodology or manner in which this research was conducted. I will however say that it would be very helpful to have more information about the survey participants as well as the qualifiers used to reach this reported scientific conclusion.
There are MANY things that Starbucks can do to bolster their business without first blaming the economy; Just ask McDonald's!
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