We have observed for a while that the service experience at Starbucks has deteriorated considerably. Getting operations leaner might give Starbucks an added side effect from squeezing more margin out of their operations. Their employees will not be as hurried as today and return to giving customers the service they presumably pay for when paying $4.25 for a coffee that across the street costs $1.75.
From the WSJ:
Starbucks Corp. built its business as the anti-fast-food joint. Now, the recession and growing competition are forcing the coffeehouse giant to see the virtues of behaving more like its streamlined competitors.
Under a new initiative being put into practice at its more than 11,000 U.S. stores, there will be no more bending over to scoop coffee from below the counter, no more idle moments waiting for expired coffee to drain and no more dillydallying at the pastry case.
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Filed under: Customer Service, Marketing , Consumers, Retail, Service, Spending
What if something you thought you knew to be true, turned out to be exactly the opposite? What if an approach you imagined was working for you was actually working against you?
Imagine if it were true, for example, that almost nobody buys a product or service anymore simply because they need it, or because its price is the right price? That, even in an economic downturn, they have to want it as much as need it before they buy?
It’s a difficult concept to grasp because, at the end of the day, it’s not about rational thought. That notion is a wake-up call for products and brands who have built their businesses on pure reason.
Ask Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard scholar who suggests in his seminal book How Customers Think that only 5% of consumer purchasing behavior is based on rational thought processes, suggesting that 95% is due to subconscious motivation. I know it’s a hard statistic to swallow, but consider this: what if he’s only even half right?
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Filed under: Marketing, Uncategorized , Consumers, Market Research, Psychology, Retail, Spending
February 6, 2009 • 3:17 am
From BMRB:
Women are more likely to take a prudent approach to their finances while men are more bullish, according to latest findings from the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) Consumer Confidence Survey.
Only 1 in 10 adults say they definitely feel financially secure in the current economic climate, but women (6%) are less than half as likely to feel financially secure as men (14%).
More women are likely to have cut back on purchases recently (75%) than men (67%). Indeed men seem to have a much more gung ho attitude with 29% spending “exactly as I did before” compared with 22% women.
In terms of what people are reducing expenditure on, men are more likely to cut back on eating out (36%) than women (30%), while women (14%) are nearly twice as likely to cut back on clothes (8% men)
A third of all adults are likely to spend £3000 or more on a single item of expenditure in the next 12 months. Again, this is more likely among men (38%) than women (27%).
In their general attitude to money, BMRB’s latest TGI data shows that more women (58%) believe they are very good at managing money than men (53%) and that they have a higher propensity (68%) to spend money more carefully than they used to, than men (63%).
Filed under: Market Research , Consumer, Market Research, Spending
December 3, 2008 • 5:32 am
The array of great deals on homes, cars and other big-ticket items these days is tempting. But before you get out your checkbook, consider this: Will snagging that awesome price really make you any happier?
It’s a tricky question. Getting a real steal can be awfully satisfying, as behavioral economists and psychologists know. “Getting a good deal takes on its own value,” says Leaf Van Boven, a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
But a low price may lure us into buying something we don’t really need — or even enjoy, after the thrill wears off. So, says Dr. Van Boven, “It may be useful to ask the question, ‘Why am I doing this?’ “
The good news is that some spending really is more fulfilling. Experts who study happiness have repeatedly found that people get the most joy out of time with family and friends or activities that provide personal enrichment, such as hobbies. What matters is not the amount that we spend, but the quality of the overall experience, so a picnic can be as satisfying as a weekend getaway. [wsj.com]
Filed under: Market Research, Marketing, Science , Consumer, Happiness, Psychology, Spending
