Article 1/A4 – Starbucks
Starbucks were having a hard time back in 2008 after their sales dropped and traffic went down. Many companies have been through the same thing without being able to turn the situation around, but what Starbucks managed to do with their mix of digital and physical media shows that it’s possible to make it right again with simple and smart decision making.
They were struggling for a while, with the founder Howard Schultz admitting that the company had lost its soul. The plan they implemented to turn things around began with the forum they created, called mystarbucksidea.com. It was a way for the consumers to express whatever suggestions, questions, and frustrations they may have, and that was a smart way from Starbucks to build up trust with their consumers. When they show that they care what the consumer feel is good or should be changed about the company, they show that they are willing to change themselves so that they can provide an even better service, and that they have nothing to hide from the consumers. This gives them great ideas that they can can use to better reach out to their consumers, and change they way the brand is being perceived for the better.
It’s definitely true what Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks’ VP-brand content and online, said about Starbucks having an advantage in amassing followers on social media since the concept is so similar to how it is in their stores. A café is a social place for many, where you come to share stories with each other over a cup of coffee, and it works they same way on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. You log on and start interacting with friends and relatives to let them know what is going on with your life, and in that sense Starbucks has an advantage in gaining new followers since those two are so similar.
The way that they made their first sales gain in over two years was original and it shows that smaller efforts like these can really drive the sales up. I actually noticed...