The main theme of this case study is to highlight the Six pillars used by Starbucks to enhance their relationship with customers.

1. Submitted by: Sukhdeep Kaur (160967188)
Submitted to: Winnie Wong
Harnessing the customer relationship
Company- Starbucks
Introduction: Opened on March 31st, 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Gorden Bowker and Zev Siegel,
today Starbucks is the largest coffee chain which is loved by people of all ages. The idea of
Starbucks came to the minds of the owners by their love for coffee and tea. The name Starbucks
represents the character in the novel written by Herman Melville’s. Starbucks opened their first
store in Seattle and then altogether four stores were opened in the Seattle (Bondarenko).
In 1992, Starbucks was the world’s largest coffee chain and by 21st century it was having more
than 20,000 stores worldwide. The immense success of the Starbucks was due to the hard work
and attitudes of the Employees and management towards the customers. Today at Starbucks you
can have all the products meeting with the customer’s expectations. Apart from selling hot &
cold coffees, frappuccino, teas and cold drinks, Starbucks is also selling foods, snacks, yogurts &
custards, bakery and at home coffee products.
In this case study our focus is on the 6 pillars of the customer relationship which Starbucks is
using to meet and understand the needs of the customers. The 6 pillars in CRM are
Personalization, Integrity, Expectations, Resolution, Time and Effort and Empathy. We will
discuss all these pillars in the Analysis section.
Analysis/Description- In this section we will analyze and provide the description regarding how
Starbucks is using these 6 pillars in meeting with customer needs.
Personalization: At Starbucks employees believes in providing the personalized service to their
customers. They pay special attention towards the guest needs and expectations. They have our

2. records in their systems and will recognize you from your names and obviously, it feels very
special when they call your names. Their mobile app is awesome; seriously, I have all
information about the nutrition content in my coffee. They offer personalized offer in their
mobile phones too, I still can add / remove ingredients from my coffee. I can add flavours,
toppings and espresso shots as per according to my needs.
The customer service starts as soon as you are reaching inside the Starbucks and they will greet
you with warm smiles. When ordering they will ask your names, asking names not only builds
the connections but it enhances the customer- employee relationship. They make you feel special
and valuable.
Integrity: It is all about building the trust. They believe in equality and diversity in their work
force. They have compassion and they believe in corporate social responsibility. Starbucks not
only cares for their employees and customers, they care for the lives of the farmers from where
the coffee beans are coming. Starbucks believes in providing the sustainable products to its
people and for that they funded 18 million coffee trees infected with the fungus (Stern, 2016).
Expectations: Starbucks understands their guest needs and they are always willing to reward
them with their reward system programs. It is the perception of all clients to get something in
return for their purchases and Starbucks understand this very well. They offer special gifts and
discounts on your birthdays and they have Starbucks gift cards, which we can send to our friends
as a gift according to their needs.
Resolution: The Starbucks is opening its second pick up store in Downtown Toronto to ease its
business customers. They are focusing on the needs of their customers. Their resolution is to
remove the waiting time in long queues. They are developing their technology and are finding
more ways to be as per according to their customer demands (Soper, 2018).

3. Time & Effort: Starbucks is putting a lot of time and effort in making the journey of their
customers easy. They developed mobile apps, technology and introduced the roastaries to
provide customers with great customer service experience. The more time and effort Starbucks is
putting, the easier it is becoming for customers to buy products from Starbucks.
Empathy: Kindness and compassion are the two strategies used by Starbucks to improve the
life of their all partners and society. They funded the fungus infected coffee trees and cares for
the farmers who are providing them with the coffee beans.
Summary: The Six pillars of CRM show that Starbucks is going beyond in terms of customer
experience. Their focus on the Digital technology and customer service are the main factors
along with the six pillars in bringing the success to the company
Analysis: From customer’s view of point Starbucks is doing perfectly good in terms of the
quality and personalization of their products. Talking about weakness, the only weakness which I
am finding in Starbucks is its overly high prices as compared to other brands. Starbucks are the
expensive ones.
Research
Bondarenko, P. (n.d.). Starbucks American company. Retrieved 01 24, 2020, from
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Starbucks
Soper, T. (2018, July 26). Starbucks adds 6 million ‘digitally registered customers’ since March
with new tech strategy. Retrieved Jan 24, 2020, from GeekWire:
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/starbucks-adds-6-million-digitally-registered-customers-q2-
new-tech-strategy/
Stern, D. (2016, Oct 15). How Starbucks uses content marketing to promote brand integrity.
Retrieved Jan 24, 2020, from Stern: https://stern.marketing/starbucks-uses-content-marketing-
promote-brand-integrity/