The natural evolution of marketing is like this: a thought, a concept, a plan, execution, implementation, and consultation after the fact. The problem that most companies suffer from is they go from thought to execution without any concept or plan. Then they rely on consultants to tell them what they already know. Outside validation is what's important. If two people agree, that's collaboration. If three people agree, it must be a trend. Or is it?
Who else would pay a premium on premium roasted coffee than the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle. It's no surprise that Starbucks has chosen to setup their "one-of-a-kind shrine to coffee" here, as their email announcement suggests. Stumptown Coffee (a local-to-Portland coffee roaster and purveyor) also has a newly opened roasting operation in Seattle as well. No doubt, they've noticed that Portlanders and Seattlites alike gift their bags of coffee to other coffee aficionados.
It would be a sad day to see Stumptown Coffee in an establishment other than a coffee house or acquired by a Starbucks-like conglomerate (let's hope that never happens). Stumptown Coffee has shops in Portland, Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles; whereas Starbucks is just about on every street corner with a heartbeat. My little inkdot of a city has a population of 160,000+ and still has no Stumptown Coffee shop. Alas, I don't think our city meets the demographic or market size specs for the audience that Stumptown is targeting. After all, what's the cost of short drive into Portland for coffee besides the expenditure of transportation for a tax-free purchase? There are other local coffee roasters here like Paper Tiger, Torque, Compass, and my favorite Brewed Awakenings. What's amusing about technology is that almost 20 yrs ago I wrote a business plan for an entrepreneurship course where my business model was a cyber cafe. It is astonishing to see how WiFi and the ridiculously cheap price of high speed internet has transformed eateries and coffee shops to all become BYOD (bring your own device) cyber cafes. Anyhow. That's it for this post.
The Atlantic reports that soda sales in the US are in a free fall, down 40%, while coffee sales have surged up by 50%. This is not surprising given the health backlash from consumers about sugary drinks; except coffee drinks don't have the same stigmas attached.
There are parts of that article that I did find peculiar. For starters, there's a bit about market share and consumer age. I wondered how many 13 yr olds it took to become a statistically significant data point. There are 14.3% of them (in the age group 13-24) that consume coffee drinks. And, there's no mention about the study or the survey size used. The National Coffee Association does track this, and in their study (or at least the preview of it) for 2012, roughly 3,000 adults in the US were surveyed about their coffee drinking habits, but the age cut-off is 18 or older. There's more about coffee drinking statistics at SBDCNet, a clearinghouse for consumer research.
When instant coffee becomes a gourmet standard for home-brewed coffee the times have certainly changed about the perfect cup. Keurig, a brand best known for single cup brewing systems, is owned by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) and held roughly 80 percent of the US market for single-serve coffee category, making it a desirable, acquisition target for larger consumer beverage companies such as Coca-Cola or Nestlé. But, that was more than a year ago when its shares traded above $40. With 34 patents on its K-Cup design expiring this September, competition for the single serve category will be even more fierce. Related articles: "Green Mountain is a costly cup of coffee," Businessweek, 2/28-3/6/2011, pp. 44-45
