The CEO’s Playbook: Leveraging Market Research to Revitalize Starbucks
Starbucks, a global icon in the coffee industry, has recently appointed a new CEO, a move that often signals potential shifts in business priorities and strategies. Leadership transitions also often bring excitement, fresh perspectives, and new ideas. This transitional period provides brands with an important opportunity for introspection/reflection, planning, and data gathering. One of the most critical steps a new CEO can take during any transition is to engage in thorough market research.
Why?
Market research offers a clear snapshot of the brand as it stands in the eyes of customers, prospective customers, and key stakeholders. It provides valuable insights into the brand’s strengths, weaknesses versus the competition, and potential areas for growth. It allows the brand to gauge current customer sentiment, identify emerging trends, understand how the brand is perceived in different regions or among certain demographics, and so much more.
Even for a well-established brand like Starbucks, with millions of loyal patrons worldwide, good data and insights are needed to inform their strategic decisions, ensure the CEO’s vision aligns with both customer expectations and market realities, and help the new CEO more confidently steer the brand into its next chapter.
Brian Niccol’s (the new CEO of Starbucks) outlined a plan and list of priorities as he takes over at the helm of the company. Niccol identified four primary objectives as he works to, “execute a turnaround for Starbucks”:
- Empower baristas to take care of Starbucks customers
- Get the morning right, every morning
- Reestablish Starbucks as the community coffeehouse
- Tell the Starbucks story
The Limelight Insights team brainstormed the methodologies we would recommend to help Starbucks leverage market research insights to meet these objectives. Read on to learn more:
Understanding market dynamics and customer sentiments through comprehensive market research is crucial for any business aiming to maintain relevance, foster growth, and usher in new leadership. At Limelight Insights, we specialize in helping businesses during transitional periods to make more informed business decisions by crafting and executing a tailored market research strategy.
If you want to feel more confident that your business decisions are informed by real customer insights, connect with us today. Reach out to info@limelightbyshugoll.com to set up a complimentary consultation to discuss your business goals and market research needs.