Starbucks New Frontier : India

Starbucks Coffee which everyone knows to be an upscale coffee chain has finally made moves into India's markets. Within the article, it is explained that Starbucks will open their first store in September and may have up to 50 stores open by the end of the year. Also, eventually India could have up to 3,000 Starbucks stores all around India.

Why the decision to expand to India? Easy. Due to India's large amount of youth in their population, cafe's have recently been booming. The problem that Starbucks seems to face is that the coffee in India is extremely cheap. For example, according to the article, "Café Coffee Day's small cappuccinos cost about $1." From my experiences at Starbucks I know that their small cappuccino could be three times that price or more.

This is similar to hardships that Walmart has and still is facing in China's market. Walmat expanded to China and attempted to create a shopping experience that was much nicer than what the Chinese were originally used to but to still have low prices. This was unsuccessful because the labor costs in China are so minute that there was no way Walmart could have the same brands and products from America and charge such a low price.

It seems that Starbucks has two options. They can either lower their prices to that of their competing companies, or they could keep their prices and hope that they get a upper-class market to bring success to Starbucks in India. What do you think would be the best decious they could make to prosper in India?

In Response to Molly...

When did you realize that what you want to do with your college degree is something you are naturally talented at?

I am majoring in Management and minoring in Economics. Luckily for me, I knew I wanted to achieve a degree in business even before I came to Keene State. I came to school having already declared my major and minor and I have not strayed past it.

Not only does my passion for business help out with how I gained my natural talent in the area but I have also had multiple mentors to get to where I am today.

My father has been doing business in New York City for longer than I have been alive. Varying from real estate to sales, I grew up learning about the multiple areas of business that New York had to offer. He never worked on Wall St. but everyone knows that New York City is home to tons of extremely prestigious and successful business head quarters. Also, my uncle is a Financial Advisor in California. I had the privilege of interning with him the past three summers and learning the ins and outs of the financial world. So, all of this has driven me to have natural talent when working in the business world.

With this being said, have you had important figures in your life that contributed to your natural talent of your degree?

Introducing a New Product.

About a year ago I came up with an idea that could be a possible new product for appliance companies. Although this really has no interest to me, I believe it could be very successful and efficient if implemented correctly. It seems that a certain trend for laundry washers created by companies such LG are getting more and more "green" and modern looking. But, innovation should be about efficiency, not just looks and helping out the environment.

My idea would be to create a product that appliance manufactures could use to store both laundry detergent and fabric softener in. This product would have the capability to hold up to a gallon of both liquid detergent and fabric softener. Once the customer turned on their washer and selected their type of cycle (Normal, Delicates, etc.) as well as the level of clothes being washed (Large or Small loads) the detergent and fabric softener would automatically be dispersed into the clothes. There would have to be a device that controlled the level of detergent and fabric softener dispensed. With this device customers using the new appliance would not have to constantly put detergent in the machine every time they washed their clothes.

Without having an actual company to buy this product, I would need multiple marketing strategies. Since I have already distinguished what my product and place is, my next step is to focus on promotion and price. After the prices for the raw materials and production were recognized, I can then focus on the price that I would sell my product for. Rather then sell these devices separate from the appliances, it would most likely be in my best interest to contact appliance companies such as LG to try and create a contract to be the sole users of my device for use in all of their signature appliances. This would guarantee me a certain wage which is favorable.

Once I find a suitable buyer for my product, the promotion stage would kick in. Advertising would most likely be the largest contribution to my products sales promotion. The advertisements would focus on how efficient the product is and how much time and hassle the consumer would save by switcher to my product and its designated appliances. Then it just up to the consumers to create a publicity for my product.

Product, place, promotion and price are great guidelines to zone in to creating a successful product. But, there are also uncontrollable factors. (Demand, Economy, etc.) How can a producer use the four "P's" to set themselves up for success even when the uncontrollable factors come into effect?

Marketing vs. Advertising vs. Propaganda.

Without being able to properly research the three groups of marketing, advertising and propaganda it difficult to create a conclusion on how they differ from one another. The normal reaction to this would simply be that the three coincide with one another constantly. In my opinion, advertising and propaganda take two separate directions away from marketing but must always begin with marketing.

Marketing is the backbone to both advertising and propaganda. Marketing consists of tons of research to figure out which market sector your group, organization, etc. would advertise or use propaganda towards. Through marketing, some of the steps that the organization would have to figure out is the market in which they want to impact, the message they want to get across and their budget.

Once an organization can complete their marketing techniques, then they can move forward to the form of advertising or propaganda they wish to create. In my eyes, advertising is creating a message towards a consumer group that tells the consumers what they should or should not do. For example, Apple may say in their advertisements, "Our MacBook Air is the lightest laptop ever." This tells the consumer that if they are looking for a light laptop then they should most certainly consider purchasing the MacBook Air laptop.

Propaganda on the other hand is not always directed at a specific consumer group. Also, it can have multiple meanings. While, advertising is created to get across one specific message. Propaganda can be in the form of art work, such as a graffiti, or even just a poster. Although the creator of the piece of propaganda usually wants to get across some sort of a point, it is up to viewers of the piece to decide what to make of it and let it effect them in the way they choose.

With this being said, what seems to be a more convincing piece of marketing? Propaganda or advertising?