I am sure that this post will generate some hits: every time I post about a major brand, the visit count to the blog takes off. But that aspect aside, I've blogged on and off about Starbucks, and some of those posts were not exactly flattering, but the upcoming national roll out of Via - Starbucks instant coffee provides us with a great opportunity to speculate about the future of the company: odds are, this is a great move. More than before, success now will depend on the quality of the new product and on its pricing, the instant coffee has to be head and shoulders above the competition but priced economically enough to be attractive to consumers.
Let us see why this is a great move for Starbucks:
- publicity - this is one aspect of Starbucks marketing that was not working lately: relying solely on the customer experience and on PR was becoming a wearisome, particularly due to less store visits, a tired look and a fragmented media market. The PR spigot is very likely to become active again with the launch of a new product, add to this a national TV campaign and I'd be surprised if the brand is not invigorated... at least in the short term.
- line extension - after commanding a significant share in artisanal and pre-packaged coffees, it makes sense to after this vast corner of the coffee market
- utility and market acquisition - instant coffee is popular in Europe and in the rest of the world even though its quality is noticeably inferior to the drip or espresso variety; assuming that Starbucks' is a much better product, it is very likely that it will capture significant market share from the competition. The only problem here will be Starbucks classical greed in pricing its products: even though it offers a better product, it will be interesting to see if the product prices itself out of the market.
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