According to Kotler and colleagues, marketing strategy is carrying out segmentation, targeting and positioning for detailed understanding of the marketplace into strategic decisions and the targeting of appropriate customer groups.

Starbucks

The Starbucks Corporation owned by Howard Shultz is one of the dominant companies in the coffee industry. Shultz vision is to celebrate coffee and promote community by turning Starbucks into a place of community where people can drink great coffee and create new connections. Starbucks mission is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time” (Company website). The company’s philosophy is that any store should be regarded as home; anyone should feel as comfortable there as they do in their own front room.

Starbucks is a well-established brand that is known for being high quality. As a global brand, Starbucks has stores in over seventy (70) countries with over 24,000 stores. Starbucks offers over 30 blends and single-origin coffees. Coffee in Starbucks is certainly not cheap but looking at the number of full stores, it is clear that the coffee, as well as other products, is rated highly by consumers. Industry analysts think that the major draw for Starbucks is the welcoming and friendly environment inside the stores.

Following the discussion of marketing processes in chapter 3 of your core text, conduct research on Starbucks to attempt the following questions on consumer market segmentation.

a) Describe the concept of segmentation and explain why companies must segment its consumer market? (400 words)

b) Name and discuss with examples 4 major bases for segmenting consumer markets. Give one example for each base. (400 words)

c) Based on the segmentation bases discussed above, examine Starbucks consumer profile, and determine how they segment their consumer market (600 words)

d) Based on your answer above, suggest one new target segment for Starbucks coffee product line. (Justify your choice of segment with theories) (600 words)

*** Words count = 1900 words.

*** In-Text Citations and References using Harvard style.