2. Starbucks & The International Crisis: a.US Starbucks, which long considered itself virtually immune to economic swings, has admitted in recent months that some consumers have avoided its relatively expensive coffee as the economy soared. According to recent US news reports, the coffee shop chain slashed its quarterly and 2008 profit forecast below Wall Street targets and said it faced the "weakest economic environment" in its history.
3. b. Egypt While its coffee aroma seems to be waning in its homegrown market on the heels of the US mortgage meltdown, Starbucks is robust on Egyptian market operations. “ As a new market for Starbucks, Egypt’s [sales] figures are better than those of other countries,” said Omar Abdelhay, operations manager at Starbucks Egypt. “ On average, some 150,000 people enter Starbucks Egypt stores per month.”
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7. Suggested strategies to push the sales up: Starbucks is considered to be a famous coffeehouse targeting a special ‘skimmed’ segment. It is obvious that lowering prices would affect it negatively and cause it to lose much of its image.
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12. Starbucks Commercials: You can hardly notice a Starbucks commercial, a thing that highlights the company’s unique advertising strategy – don’t advertise. Thus, company executives feel that improving the in-store customer experience is a much more effective means of advertising than via Starbucks commercials. Starbucks encourages the promotion of their stores as a ‘third home’ , providing comfortable chairs for customers to relax and spend time in, playing music and providing outlets for people to plug their laptops into……..etc.
