Starbucks Coffee Shop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Starbucks Coffee Shop - Essay Example The Starbucks brand has been known not only for its coffee and food, but mostly for being one of the companies which incorporates customer service as part of its brand proposition. Over the years, Starbucks has positioned itself as the third place, next to home, and office or school. This so-called Starbucks experience embodies the intangible aspect of the store's brand offer. The core products that Starbucks offers are tea, coffee and pastries. However, even though being a coffee shop does not confine the Starbucks brand as a store where such products can be bought. This intangible (Gabbott & Hogg, 1994) that accompanies the products that consumers pay for is comprised of the total experience they get in the form of service from the shop's crews. Apart from the physical product such as coffee and food, the service in the Starbucks requires customers to participate in the service. This according to Wolak, Kalafatis and Harris (1998) is the inseparability characteristic of service. Because consumption cannot be separated from the provider which is the Starbucks' staff, what Starbucks offers can only be achieved by the customer by participating in the service, i.e. placing her order, and paying and waiting for her drink. That is, it is required on the customer's part to personally take part in the service, which they do so by queuing in the line and waiting for her turn, placing the order that they desire and then waiting for it, either on the table (for food) or at the counter (for coffee). This is the inseparability of Starbucks. Variability/heterogeneity The third dimension of service according to Gabbott and Hogg (1994) is the heterogeneity of the service. In terms of Starbucks' service, its variability lies in the difference between employees at the service counter who greet the consumers. While the way employees get orders from employees and serve them their drink vary less, the methods as regards employees approach to interacting with the employees varies in terms of the way they greet their customers. This is because in the former action, the idea behind the action is the same; that is, the employee takes the order, processes it and delivers it to the customers. In the latter performance, although the idea is the same, there are reasons for variations that depend on the employees' ability to interact with the customer. Perishability The fourth dimension of service is perishability or its dependence on time as regards its consumption (Wolak, Kalafatis & Harris, 1998). Starbucks' service is perishable in that as the customers become more aware of the inability of supply of service, they can opt to