Archive for Starbucks
Stuff White People Like
Posted by: | CommentsBrooke and I went to college together in the private enclave of Colby College in Waterville, ME.
We lived unique college experiences with my social environs grounded more in my lacrosse teammates and others in the student-athlete universe. Brooke while no doubt a sports fan was far more intellectual than I. Nevertheless, we were bound by common friends and most notably a class called “Female Experience in America”. In this class, we were part of one of six teams asked to create documentaries on social problems in America.
Brooke remains a good friend. She went on to Stanford and Salem State to get her MS in Psychology and is now the director of a community program at a local community college. She’s a wonderful global citizen. But Brooke is also phenomenally unique and very cool.
Let’s take a gander at a few of her recent Facebook posts:
• “Thinks 38-0 against a team with no wins this season is sufficient. Let the Titans go home to warm up, and put on some NASCAR or a hockey game!”
• “Leblanc has wanted to be a professional hockey player for as long as he can remember. But after he was drafted by the National Hockey League, he didn’t listen to the scouts who wanted him to skip college and dedicate himself to the pro game.” – Related Boston.com link
• “Loves her Bruins — consistently inconsistent!”
• “Inside 10 laps to go, Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle were contenders for the checkers. They brought home the steering wheel.” [Nationwide series @ Fontana]
• “Now back to more important things: NBC’s f*-up of canceling ‘Southland’” – Related EW.com link
Brooke also has links posted to Youtube clips of Istanbul spoofs from the song by They Might be Giants and clips from the Craig Ferguson show. Among her fave bands are REM, The Allman Brothers and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Her fan pages on Facebook include: NASCAR, U2, Brigitte Bardot, Wimbledon, The United States of America, The New York Times, Starbucks, Target, Twilight, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Calvin and Hobbes, Roger Federer, The New England Patriots, The Daily Show, Pete Carroll, The Princess Bride, The Young Ones and A Christmas Story.
What’s so unique about Brooke? She lives in New England, went to the preppy private enclave of Colby College in the woods of Maine, LOVES the NHL, her Bruins and NASCAR.
Here’s what’s so unique about Brooke. She’s black.
If you attempt to market to her solely based on her race, you will make assumptions that are flat out wrong. Just another example of the importance of truly getting to know your customers.
Stop & Shop and Starbucks – A Not So Perfect Union
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Update – April 9, 2010: I posted this blog post in September 2009 not yet having read Kevin Maney’s book, Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don’t. It ranks well up there in my personal critique of business books. Most of which I think you can “get-it” in the first chapter. Maney’s deserves the full-read. In it, Maney, does a superb job of taking a wonderfully simple concept which I think successful companies execute well intuitively. It has to do with the balance of “fidelity” versus “convenience”. In his book, Maney uses Starbucks as an example which to me was a rewarding validation of my blog post below. There is an adaptation of the chapter on Starbucks from Forbes, here. With that, feel free to read my post but without a doubt, pick-up a copy of Maney’s book. It’s well worth the read.
Our small suburban town boasts three Starbucks which might be an indication of the demographics. Our Stop & Shop Starbucks opened early in 2007 and would be our fourth.
A short two years later, Starbucks and our Stop & Shop would part ways. I can’t say I’m surprised.
Don’t get me wrong. The idea is nice in theory.
Starbucks is trying to steal market share from Dunkin’ Donuts (a New England institution and a master in convenience) and there are Dunkin’ Donuts in about 100 Stop & Shops.
Stop & Shop is trying to elevate its brand to compete with Whole Foods. By the way, right around the time of the Starbucks addition, a Whole Foods opened in our town. So in addition to Stop & Shop refreshing their image, cleaning up the store and offering an organic food aisle Starbucks should be a perfect fit.
Not so much.
I don’t know if either company did much research to decide if this was a good idea or if they did just didn’t ask the right questions.
My guess is that good research would have identified that while the demographics should indicate that a marriage between these two is a no-brainer, the reality is that the two consumer experiences are at odds with each other and the idea is actually inherently flawed.
My wife and I do our “basic” grocery shopping at Stop & Shop. We do specialty shopping at a local market or at Whole Foods. And we relax at Starbucks, with each other, a good friend or a book and ideally no kids.
Stop & Shop is inherently not relaxing. It’s functional. We don’t go wandering aimlessly through the store taking our time. We go with a list and a job to do and that’s complicated further if there are kids with us. There’s no time for a Non-fat White Chocolate Mocha. We don’t have time to place the order, let alone wait for it.
Stop & Shop is for one thing. Starbucks is for another. It seems like it should have been pretty simple to figure that out.
Funny thing is, Stop & Shop is headquartered a couple of towns away from mine. If they had only asked I might have been able to save them a bit of money.
