Starbucks.Primary researches.

Introduction.

Starbucks is one of the few coffee shop businesses that, owing to its premium brand status, enjoys a high degree of customer loyalty. Over a time it has gained a significant competitive advantage over lesser known brands, through their approach to business, centred on innovation and customer intimacy. Despite this ongoing success, it is vital for the business to continue to meet customer needs and understand their values through innovative business models.

CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, once defined the company's business model as "a concise representation of how an interrelated set of decision variables in the areas of venture strategies, venture architecture and venture economics will be addressed in order to create sustainable competitive advantage in the coffee market". And although the company faced some difficulties in a past, Starbucks continues remaining a "choice number one" for the majority coffee drinkers.  

But does the company deliver a hundred percent service for real? Or are there those customers who still are unsatisfied and disappointed with its products? Hence it was decided to investigate and analyse the levels of customer satisfaction of Starbucks, conducting a primary research.

Primary research.

Primary research refers to the collection of data for the first time. This data is collected for some specific purpose directly from the research subject/area, by a researcher. It usually involves the researcher going into the market place (field) to find the information they are looking for. If the researcher does not go into the field they may send or place something into the field to record information for them.

Primary research is more expensive and time consuming but it will give better results than secondary data. There are several methods that can be used for research - interviews, questionnaire, surveys, observation etc. The appropriate method of research will depend on the aim of the research and the time, money and resources available to the researcher. Each research method has its limitations and margin of error. Hence research analysis will need to take these factors into account.

Taking into an account varies methods of research, the two outlined below are considered to be most relevant to coffeehouse industry, in order to investigate and analyse the levels of consumer satisfaction:  

1. Field research/Interviews

a) store intercept interviews - chat with the consumers at the till point to understand the consumer’s shopping experience and decision making process fully;

b) barista intercept interviews - chat with the baristas, questioning some basic rules and their strategies to resolve problems;

2. Online Survey - multiple choice questionnaire.

Survey VS Interview

A survey is usually general and covers a wide range of issues. It is designed to find information rather than to investigate specific questions about an issue and it helps to identify the most important ideas, questions and issues about a general trend in people’s opinions, experiences, and behaviour. Surveys are particularly useful to find small amounts of information from a wider selection of people in the hopes of making a general claim.

In turn an interview usually focuses more on a particular topic or issue. Interviews are best used when detailed information needs to be learned from specific people. By interviewing consumers in this setting at the moment of purchase, many of the pitfalls of telephone, mail and Internet surveys can be avoided, such as memory loss, lack of interest, product confusion. Instead, all factors can be equally assessed including pricing, packaging, other elements of the in-store environment that may only barely be recalled days or weeks later. In this manner, all aspects of the purchase decision can be explored at a time when the perceptions of products, competitors' products and the overall category are top-of-mind.

The results of both methods can be powerful insights into the key drivers that motivate customers and those of competitors at the moment the sale is actually made. It is possible to examine the issues that affect both strategic plans and their tactical execution.

Also upon the research, a person who conducts it will be able to:

a) Probe the true drivers of purchase decisions and quantify their effects, whether they differ by class of trade or retail venue; their purchasing influences, decision hierarchy, sequence and structure;

b) Develop full brand profiles, as consumers see them;

c) Evaluate account specific issues;

d) Test new products and/or concepts in a real-world setting

e) Assess the stopping power and sales effects of merchandising materials;

f) Better understand "how” consumers shop a brand and category;

g) Gain an understanding of shopper behaviour and motivation;

h) Measure awareness of advertising and in-store display presence;

i) Determine if and in what ways the individual retailer or the trade channel affect shopping behaviour;

Another advantages of using these following methods are:

·      They help easily collect a lot of information from a large number of people.

·      The researcher does not necessarily have to be involved in the data collection process. She/he may use a proxy (another person) to gather a sample of opinions and views and then select some of these for follow up interviews for more depth.

·      Results from surveys and questionnaires, if the forms are designed well, can be collated and analysed quickly, especially using numerical techniques, such as spreadsheets.

Analyzing and using Primary Research.

Once primary research data is collected, it has to be analyzed based on what have been found in order to use it appropriately and effectively for the business. The purpose of analyzing the data is to look at what was collected (survey responses, interview answers to questions, observations) and to create a cohesive, systematic interpretation to help answer existing research question.

When analyzing findings, researcher should remember to eliminate bias by being truthful and as accurate as possible about what was found, even if it differs from what she/he expected to find. Data should be seen as sources of information, just like sources that can be found in the library, and researcher should work to represent them accurately.

The following are suggestions for analyzing different types of data.

Interviews

If a small number of people was interviewed, then it can be helpful to use summary, paraphrasing, and quotation skills in order to describe accurately what was said in the interview. When working with sources, interviewees should be introduced and only clear and relevant quotes from the interviews may be chosen in evaluation. An easy way to find the important information in an interview is to print out transcription and take a highlighter and mark the important parts that might be used in research result paper. If a large number of interviews have been conducted, it will be helpful for a researcher to create a spreadsheet of responses to each question and compare the responses, choosing representative answers for each area she/he wants to describe.

Surveys

Surveys can contain quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (written answers, descriptions) data. Quantitative data can be analyzed using a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel to calculate the mean (average) answer or to calculate the percentage of people who responded in a certain way. A researcher can display this information in a chart or a graph and also describe it in writing in their paper. If she/he has qualitative responses, a researcher might choose to group them into categories and/or may choose to quote several representative responses.

Evaluation & Analysis of Primary Research

Based on information presented above it was decided to conduct a primary research utilizing a survey technique.

Hence a list of 15 general questions was constructed (using Survey Monkey application) and outlined on a single sheet (refer to Appendix 1 for questionnaire sample).

The survey was designed in a manner in which it could address both existent and potential Starbucks customers. By using a qualitative and quantitative design (both closed questions and also open questions allowing for more in-depth personal information to be written down), it was sought as much information as possible that could be elicited from respondents.

Following my three visits on 17th, 22nd and 29th of March to the coffee shop located at Dame Street, Dublin 1, I spread the questionnaires to the customers of Starbucks who willingly volunteered to fill the answers in.

As a result I have received 23 replies. Some of the questions remained blanks, some were not fully completed. The tree different visits were carried out during different hours of a day, where the first visit was in the morning, the second - in the afternoon and the last - near to the end of working hours.

However despite the fact having a small number of replies I was able to draw out a general conclusion. I have also used a spread sheet to help visualise an approximate relation of the answers. The analysis and evaluation of gathered results are presented below.

Results:

As it was mentioned earlier the number of the questioned customers was 23. Among them were 9 males and 14 females.

In a questionnaire the people were asked to simply indicate their age. Based on those answers I decided to break the respondents into the following age categories according to presumable occupational status: 17 and less; 18 - 23; 24 -30; 30 - 40; 40 and more (Table 1). The youngest among the respondents was 16 years of age, where the oldest - 42. As a result it was found that the majority of the coffee consumers are between 18 - 23, where the percentage of an older generation is much less. The accuracy of the answers could depend first of all on the small number of participants. Second factor impacting the results could be an awareness of healthy life style which led to a reduction of coffee drinkers among elder population.

Age	17 and less	18 - 23	24 - 30	30 - 40	40 and more
No. Of consumers	1	11	8	2	1

Table 1: Age groups of consumers

With a question No. 3 I was able to identify the three main groups of coffee drinkers with relation to their occupation. The list included many professions, which overall were categorised as office employees. Based on the results it appeared that the majority of visitors are students, which surpasses the number of the office employees by 4 persons. The last group named under the heading "other" included one visitor who identified himself as "a writer". Considering the answers it can be stated that there are three main groups of coffee drinker:

a) a person who works really hard all of the time and needs a coffee boost;

b) a student, who drinks one coffee and stays to study for hours;

c) a person who just like the smell of coffee.

In terms of the frequency of visits paid to the Starbucks, the majority of people come to the coffee shop between 1 and 4 times a week, which is equal to 15 people. Hence it underlines how popular this brand is among the coffee drinkers and their habits coming to the shop to enjoy their drink. The results of visit frequency are displayed below in table 2.

Frequency	Every day	Once a week	2-4 times a week	Once or twice a month	rarely
No of people	3	8	7	3	2

Table 2: Frequency of visits

To the question No.5 under the heading "Purpose for using the coffee shop", 12 participants chose the place as a "taka-away" point where they usually get a cup and rush out being on the way to work or class. Shop as a "leisure place" appeared to be less but not least favourable, being chosen by 7 people. The fewer number of visitors takes Starbucks shop as a workplace. The answers received depended on the hour of a day the questionnaire was spread around. For instance the morning visitors are mainly take-away people, where by the end of the day leisure becomes more favourable, leaving workplace category somewhere in the afternoon. It was also noted that men are most likely to use the coffee shop as a workplace.

To the question related to problem experienced while served at the coffee shop, the majority of people said that they had no problems. However out of 23 participants there were those who left negative responses (two visitors), quoting they were "overcharged" and "received a wrong order!" Following those replies the respondents were also asked to state how quickly they were helped with a problem. Both explained that they were satisfied with a speed of problem resolution. Based on this I can assume that Starbucks delivers a good service. But again, the number of participants is too small to make a final conclusion.

Because Starbucks Company recently introduced a new training strategy for baristas I also considered it to be appropriate asking the participants of what they thought of the coffee shop staff. Relying on those replies it was concluded that Starbucks managed to bring improvement to customer service after all. 21 participants were positive, referring to the baristas as: "friendly", experienced", "knowledgeable", "cheerful", "understandable", etc. The remaining two, based on their previous negative experience descried the serving staff as "sometimes incompetent".

Answers to question 8, related to "how cosy is the Starbucks coffee shop?" could be divided onto two main groups: people with positive and neutral attitude. Between those two, the number of people with a neutral opinion was higher. Such choice could be connected to the previous question where takeaway people have little concern about the atmosphere within the shop.

The words used to describe the Starbucks coffee shops in question 9 varied. All carried a positive opinion. Some of the answers were like "warm", "nice and quiet", relaxing". One appeared to have a mixture of both: "crowded but friendly". The others considered the shop to be their "third home" or "a great start to the day". Following these answers I may assume that one of the company's goals is to make a nice inside environment so to please its every customer, independently whether he/she is loyal or a single-time visitor.

Question 10 concentrated its attention on the important factors that drove the customers to the shop. This was a multiple-choice question, hence participants were allowed to pick more than one choice. Following it, the main factors appeared to be: taste, convenience, price and location that exceeded 15%, while atmosphere and speed of service categories fell below 8%. Therefore I can assume that the quality of coffee is a main driven factor for every customer. 

Queuing in a shop is always a painful topic. Hence a separate question was devoted to it. The majority of respondents rated the time needed to queue in a coffee shop as being very important (18 participants) and somewhat important (4). In the second part of the question when prompted for the reasons behind their choice some of the answers illustrated issues of high tend valuation of personal time ("if I see that I need to queue a long time I rather go somewhere where I do not need to spend that time", " Coffee is not that different that you want to spend time queuing when the next door you get no queue", "Depends how on how busy I am"). Those that chose queuing to be very important usually referred to the morning hours when they were in a rush to work.

Out of all participants, 19 owned a Smartphone. Overall, however 80% of those who answered had an active internet option available for use on their handsets.

"Yes, I have a Smartphone"	"No, I do not have a Smartphone"
19	4

Table 3: No of participants owning Smartphone

In a continuation and in direct accordance with the findings revealed by question 14, 74% of those who answer the questionnaire declared themselves willing to pay extra in order to have the drink ready and waiting for them upon arrival at the store. Opinions regarding the popularity of this concept demonstrated a genuinely welcoming attitude: "If done efficiently then this would be ideal", "Yes, it would be more convenient and save a lot of time", "Yes, sounds like an interesting idea!"

To the last question, more than a half of respondents agreed with an idea of a FREE Wi-Fi being available at the coffee shop.

Conclusion:

After conducting a quick primary research, it has been highlighted that although Starbucks enjoys a loyal customer base and has built up a very successful business model, there are still areas in which new opportunities could be pursued. For instance the percentage of visitors who had negative previous experience could be higher as well as the number of faults. Hence Starbucks should consider improvement of barista training strategy or at least deliver an annual assessment on productivity of coffee staff. But it is already clearly seen from the results that one of the company priorities is handling of all kinds of complaints in a short period of time.

As it was mentioned above queuing and crowding make an impact onto visitor's decision when choosing one or another coffee shop. However, such factors as "taste" and "convenience" are not less important, which Starbucks delivers excellently, proving a good quality coffee and creating a cosy atmosphere.