Starbucks VS City Café

Starbucks VS City Café
Starbucks, CITY CAFE, the two types of operations are designed for different consumers. Consumers have two different attributes, each with their own consumer behaviors and consumption patterns. Starbucks is the most secret.
Starbucks, the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 20,891 stores in 62 countries, including 13,279 in the United States, 1,324 in Canada, 989 in Japan, 851 in China, and 806 in the United Kingdom, is an American global coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle. In Taiwan, Starbucks is also authorized by Uni-President Enterprise which is an international food conglomerate based in Tainan. Uni-President Enterprise is the largest food production company and one of its largest conglomerates in Taiwan, with NT$46.000 billion annual income and , and has a significant market share in dairy product, foods and beverages markets. In Taiwan, it controls the 7-Eleven franchise, Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Mister Donut and Carrefour and owns the President Lions professional baseball team. The original motivation for pure drinking coffee, people should only need caffeine. While the value added are extended from the other things. Coffee drink has its own special atmosphere and culture, like Japanese sado, tea has its unique culture. This is a reflection of the ideology on top of social consumer goods. This type of consumption structure is produced by the below following the example of the above. This kind of imitation will internalize concept of social classes. This class is called bourgeois hegemony, which is also known as the middle class hegemony produces unique consumer behavior. Starbucks, for instant, is a bourgeois hegemony. In short, the high classes who own implements of production means those owners, bosses, managers of a company. They possess whole enterprise and distribute operating profit into the working class. The habits and customs of the high classes create a taste of life; improve the level of living standard. People admits that can be the symbol of the top of the society. The fastest way the middle class people want to get into the upper class that is to mimic the taste of such a standard of life, to enter the level of living standard. That is, there will be a lot of people making money for living in villas, buy BENZ, hand LV. The reason why people buying villas is not really because the natural charm; driving BENZ is not for car’s luxurious interior; hanging LV isn’t really for fireproof and durable material, but for pursuing the upper class habits and life. This phenomenon is a kind of trickle-down effect that affects many consumer goods and behaviors. This phenomenon states that when the lowest social class, or simply a perceived lower social class, adopts the fashion. It is no longer desirable to the leaders in the highest social class. Some of the middle class through this way to hope for becoming the upper class. Therefore, Starbucks uses the characteristic of market to controls the middle class to buy coffee on an impulse. For this reason, the clerks of Starbucks will brew coffee politely, with classically embellishments, and dim light and soft music, people will have a taste of the upper class life.
The “blind” and “open” taste shows people are heavily influenced by brand in their determination of taste. Consequently, Uni-President Enterprise grabs this chance. They create local brand “City Café” to sell for the lower middle classes. The company distinguishes people by how much money you have because the lower middle classes absolutely buy the cheaper one. So Uni-President Enterprise offers the cheaper products, like City Café, and targets the consumers who don’t have much money. The findings show 55% of the Taiwanese population drinks coffee on a daily basis and concluded that selling more City Café could increase store revenue by bringing more customers into 7-Eleven stores. Starbucks customers and City Café customers differ in terms of feelings about importance of brand and willingness to pay more for coffee. More interestingly, coffee beans make no differences between Starbucks and City Café. Does the price really achieve the cost of coffee beans? I don’t think so. Starbucks and City Café use the consumer 's surplus to gain more money from consumers. For example, a NT$300-skirt can sell for NT$5000 for the socialite in department stores. After a time, this skirt would sell for NT$1000 on sale for the office workers. For a while, the department stores end the act as agent of the skirt, the skirt may sell for NT$500 on the street for the working class.
Of course, the clerk of Starbucks must learn to deal with different type of customers and develop new skills such as communication skills, money handling, working in a fast-pace environment with a team or independently. Highly customer service oriented in Starbucks makes customers feel more comfortable, high energy, and happy just by a drink of coffee. They made drinks upon people 's request. On the contrary, the clerks of 7-11 just have to push a button, the coffee will be served. Being a 7-11 employee doesn’t have to be prepared these specialized coffee skills and professional service. So, Starbucks and City Café separated by consumer 's surplus, through bourgeois hegemony, work together to develop their business in the different market.

References:
Allen Hsu, Taiwanese buying into new coffee lifestyle, taiwanreview, 04/07/2006

wikipedia, Starbucks Corporation, 13 April 2014 wikipedia, Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, 27 February 2014

City Cafe品牌行銷祕訣The umbrella branding strategy of city café, 動腦雜誌 vol.389. 03/03/2009 http://tkbpower.blogspot.tw/2009/03/city-cafe.html Allen Hsu, Taiwanese buying into new coffee lifestyle, taiwanreview, 04/07/2006

References: Allen Hsu, Taiwanese buying into new coffee lifestyle, taiwanreview, 04/07/2006 wikipedia, Starbucks Corporation, 13 April 2014 wikipedia, Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, 27 February 2014  City Cafe品牌行銷祕訣The umbrella branding strategy of city café, 動腦雜誌 vol.389. 03/03/2009 http://tkbpower.blogspot.tw/2009/03/city-cafe.html Allen Hsu, Taiwanese buying into new coffee lifestyle, taiwanreview, 04/07/2006