1. How did Starbucks initially use segmentation to targeted coffee markets? 2. Did the Starbucks customer or the Starbucks Experience change...

1. Market
segmentation is a very common strategy where instead of trying to appeal to the whole mass
market which requires a sort of "least common denominator" approach that is acceptable
to all but ideal to none, a company instead targets a specific group of people and tries to give
them exactly what they want.

Starbucks did this expertly, targeting
specifically young-adult to middle-aged upper-middle class urban professionals. While most of
their competitors (e.g. Dunkin' Donuts, Tim Hortons) were simply offering coffee as cheap and
fast as possible, Starbucks instead offered what they called the "Starbucks
Experience": a comfortable coffee shop environment, standardized so it would be familiar
and consistent when people travel (as this demographic travels extensively), with high-quality
coffee that appeals to socially responsible customers by being organic, Fair Trade, and locally
sourced. To pay for this, Starbucks needed to charge higher prices, but they knew this
demographic has a...

href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2013/04/25/starbucks-and-mcdonalds-winning-strategy/">https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2013/04/2...