The Role of Consumer Behavior in Marketing Decisions - Essay Example

Even though Starbucks has positioned itself as a high end coffee shop, it still depends on its consumers to uphold the image. ‘Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption’ (Perner, n.d). Thus for the purpose of this paper, consumer behavior will be studied through an interview with five selected people and the result of the interview will help generate an understanding of the current image and positioning of Starbucks among its buyers.

Findings of the Interview Through the interview with the five people who had at some point of their lives bought Starbucks, it was found that Starbucks is a brand that many people aspire for. The interviewees for this report belong to the medium income group. Mostly people visit Starbucks on a weekly basis or even on a once biweekly basis. The consumers studied for this report where people who loved coffee and had it almost daily. Most of them have coffee machines at home or a local coffee shop where they go daily.

Starbucks is not a daily option for these people since it is a premium brand where products are priced high as compared to the competition. In the time of recession, the price of the product plays a great factor in the buying decision. However, the people interviewed love Starbucks and wished they could go there more often. They visit Starbucks when they want to relax and have a good time. When asked to define the personality of Starbucks as a person, animal or tree; varied interesting responses were received that included a brown grizzly loving bear, a brownie, a warm lover and even Oprah Winfrey for her loving nature and bright smile.

Even though the consumers loved the brand, most said that they would be apprehensive if the brand introduced a contrary product such as its own iPad or mobile phone. One of the customers however said, why not. He said that Starbucks has also been successful at developing new products and given its success in developing new products, it can also be successful in making iPads. According to him, if Google can launch the Andriod, Starbucks can also launch a totally different product. A few of the consumers said that if the product was related to food or coffee such as coffee soap, they would be willing to consider buying the product.

Discussion The findings of the interview match with the current knowledge that has been gathered through reviewing literature available on Starbucks and by understanding it in light of the marketing theories available. Starbuck is one of the most preferred brands in terms of coffee because of the positioning of the brand. The consumers prefer the image of Starbucks as it sells the best coffee in the country according to the consumers. Along with the good taste of Starbucks’ products, the consumers love the customer service of the shop.

They even compare the customer service to a warm lover who attracts people through the love it instills in the customers. One important thing that the consumer survey helped us to find was the impact of recession on the buying behavior of the consumer. Since recession has impacted everyone, people are more conscious of where they spend their