Starbucks’ success has attracted the attention of many potential competitors and McDonald’s attempt to “retaliate” with the McCafés is certainly one of the most serious threats for Starbucks.
I visited a McCafé in Paris last week and wanted to benchmark the customer experience provided. Keeping in mind that Starbucks’ customer experience in Europe is a watered down version of what it is in the US (Starbucks actually took cultural differences into account when it exported its concept to Europe), I didn’t find any fundamental difference between the two brands. When it comes to the product it’s pretty much comparable (the product range is narrower at McCafé), pastries are the same, the coffee machines used are the same (Cimbali for those of you who are interested in such details).
McCafé however have some fast-food-related details rooted in their DNA which tend to impact (negatively) the customer experience. Starbucks positioned itself as a provider of an upper tier luxury moment (which is mirrored by products prices) and McCafé’s attempt to imitate this positioning while keeping the features of the fast-food environment is IMHO not very successful.
Posted in Marketing.
