Costa Coffee free essay sample

Costa Coffee is another successful coffee shop industry in United Kingdom just like Starbucks. They sell different kinds of roasted coffee in wholesale from establishment and they also sell retail coffee in their shops. Introduced in 1971 by Sergio and Bruno Costa and acquired by Whitbread in 1995. Since then they have expanded more than 1700 coffee shops within 28 countries all over UK, Middle East, South Asia and Europe and because of their strong brand reputation and expansion they are considered as the second largest coffee shop in the world. Unique Production Process Costa Coffee has created a phenomenal success because of their unique marketing concept having their own Roastery plant in Lambeth for production of their own coffee beans. During the first stage of preparation â€Å"Mocha Italia† includes manually slow roasting production process of their coffee beans with unique blends. The second preparation process includes grinding of ground beans to ensure product quality, flavor and aroma that attract the customers to wait for their cup as it is being done and served hot. We will write a custom essay sample on Costa Coffee or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The third process includes the use of espresso machine in tune with technology to produce a consistent blend and perfect espresso. Lastly excellent customer service delivery of coffee through hand made skills as executed by their highly skilled barista. Because of this old fashioned brewery combined with technology and world class presentation marketing concept Costa Coffee has created their own unique marketing position in UK market. The preparation process has been very successful that it has also been appreciated and accepted in other countries. Image Building and Social Responsibility Good selection of location for accessibility of customers and high standard, luxurious and comfortable coffee shop structure, well maintained facilities are their main focus to create a good image in the society. During the past decades they have not done match advertising and media promotion but they have become popular usually through the word of mouth and Whitbread promotion inclusion because they believed that the reputation they have built has been their strengths and they still manage to build massive appeal in the market. Costa Coffee also believed that their brand name should be enough to build customers in the community and so they only provide low cost advertisement in the past decades and only during the year 2000 they have introduced high end promotional strategies and expansion including half price promotion of their frescato during 2005, gift cards, membership etc. nd in 2007 up to 2010 they have continuous expansion of coffee shops in UK and other countries until they have taken more shops over the competition making them more visible. Costa Coffee teamed up with Rainforest Alliance to provide growth and sustainability, they are the groups of farmers that certified social and environmental standards for the responsible production of crops that promotes healthy good yields and welfare of members to improve their quality of lives. Target Market Because of their location and production strategy they have diversified their target market in a variety of people in their respective age bracket but usually because of their high commercial location of operation they have gathered a large crowd or professionals and adults market reaching as high as 45% while youth and students reaches up to 30% of their shares while the remaining numbers includes groups and family. Product Lines and Pricing Strategy During their beginning Costa Coffee introduced a wide range of finest coffee blends including hot chocolates, coffee and tea, cafe latte, espresso, cappuccino, iced coffee, frescato, mocha, ristreto In the later years they have also introduced chocolate, cakes and snacks some fruits, oats, nutty, brownies and biscuits. The variety of their products also differs from location or branch. Offering a variety of products provides wider target market through age, food preferences and price. Because of their products and price which is usually higher usually they have been engaged to offer their products to upper class, middle class and privileged class market while gender, ethnicity and religious preferences does not shown much effect in their current target market since coffee is a standard favorite from most countries around the world. . Overall Impression and Market Position Because of the tremendous customer’s patronage transparent in their expansion Costa Coffee continuously believe that they still hold one of the strongest coffee brewing and sales in UK and for decades their reputation remains. This means that their modest marketing strategies have been very successful until today. The entry of the new players and the competition remains a threat in their company in the future. My recommendation is that they may need to make a more advance promotional and advertising campaign to secure a long term dominance and market stability in the brewing and coffee industry.