How Costa Coffee would benefit and create additional value for their coffee store clients by using elements of Starbucks marketing strategy?

Contents

Introduction 3

Coffee Market in the UK 3

Market Leading Coffee Shops in the UK 4

Costa Coffee 4

Identifying competition 6

Starbucks 6

Conclusions 8

Recommendations 9

References 11

Appendix 1 13

Appendix 2 14

Appendix 3 15

Introduction

Competitive marketing strategy is described by Kotler and Armstrong (2012) as a strategy which …show more content…

Mintel Marketing Intelligence report (2011) explains that expansion in the UK is still evident after a decade of phenomenal growth; however, some brands are also concentrating on international expansion.

In terms of brand communication and promotion, the Mintel report (2011) concludes that coffee shop brands are now more focused on marketing and advertising. In addition, their websites are getting more and more visitors.

Costa Coffee

Costa is the UK’s largest and fastest growing coffee shop brand which is owned fully by the Whitbread Plc (Costa Coffee 2011).

Costa Coffee was founded in the UK by Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971. Whitbread PLC bought the company in 1995 (Datamonitor 2008). Company lists staff training as one of its key differences from its competitors and every in-store barista spends time at the Costa Coffee Academy in Lambeth. This way the company emphasises its aim of creating a premium coffee drinking experience to its customers (Datamonitor 2008).

Insight into the Costa Coffee’s Marketing Strategy

Costa Coffee believes according to the Datamonitor’s report (2008) that its traditional roasting methods allow it to stand out from competitors and therefore is the key to its success. This also allows Costa Coffee to market the products authenticity therefore being