Marketing Mix Strategy of Costa Coffee
Introduction
Marketing Mix of Costa Coffee is the research topic for emphasizing on the marketing strategies developed by the firm. Marketing Mix Strategy is the combination of 4P. These are Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
Background of Costa Coffee
The global renowned brand is Costa Coffee. It is globally recognized and reputed by its tremendous tastes of foods especially in the form of Coffee. It has started its operation since 1971 as the form of catering services. The operation of wholesale services in the form of catering became popular in London in the business of Costa Coffee. After the great success of it, it became the huge British Multinational Company. Former it was the service of delivering the coffee to the Italian coffee Shop but history is bow it is the global brand. Their first coffee shop was in Vauxhall Bridge Road, London. It has transformed to open their international store in Dubai since 1999. It is the first coffee shop in London that that process the whole coffee making from beginning to ending with help of machine procedure command. It has opened as well celebrated their 1000th coffee shop in Cardiff since 2009 and then globally it gave a message they are going to open other outlets in the other country. There was an another milestone of Costa Coffee to celebrate their birthday of 40th birthday celebration in the period of 2011. For the successive three years it was been voted for the first choice of the London citizen in the field of their coffee tastes.
Costa Coffee Marketing Mix
Product:
In the context of the marketing mix mechanism Product is the most vital part. A product is the item of use that is produced by the producer according to demand of the consumer needs and demand to satisfy the consumer needs or for the specific groups. In the context product mix it is not necessary that the product will be only the tangible product but the marketing mix concept also allowed the product could be the intangible also. Because with the context of product the service is related this can be termed as the intangible context. The product is not produced within a short time. There are too many research and studies occurred behind the product development which is called the product development phase. There should have a market survey to find out the aspect of whether the product is demanded in the market or not, that is also the important task in the product development phase. Though there is a product life cycle in the marketing concept which is most lucrative to the product development phase. There need an extensive research on the context of the product life cycle that which product is producing and what is the durability of the product according to the demand and acceptance of the product. With the extension of growth, maturity, decline phase the product life cycle define the different stages of the product and according to which the product is designed. This is the job responsibility of the marketing people as the marketer to create as well as design the right and correct marketing mix in response to the product mix. It is always recommended to expand the current product mix by the diversification of the product diversification and increasing the product depth. Another issue is related to the product mix concept that is to keep the quality of the product up to the marks as the satisfaction of the customer can be achieved the product of the company. For developing the right product for the current and potential customer then it should be considered more importantly this product guideline is relevant to the Costa coffee product development.
Now come to the Costa Coffee product development. Costa is renowned by the production Costa Coffee and it became more popular globally by its extensive outlets of coffee chain or the coffee chain outlets. The costa coffee and the probable acceptance of other valuable as well as the variation of product of Costa has become the highly valued for its customer from the any corner of the world those are actually the food loving people in the aspect of taking the tastes of the food. The quality and tastes of the Costa product is world standard. The practical phenomenon of Costa is that Costa basically develops and synchronizes the marketing mix of this in response to the product of Coffee. So, the main area of focus point of Costa will be on its product of coffee. From the global product list it is found about Costa Coffee, that it has Mocha Coffee which is delicious, Latte Coffee which is delicious, Americano, Flat White, Expresses and Cappuccino. In addition to it can be talked about the ice coffee like Frsotino Coffee which is delicious, Coffee Cream Coffee which is delicious, Lemonade Coffee which is delicious, and Mocha Cream Coffee which is delicious by its flavor. Moreover, except delighted Coffee it has Hot Chocolates of market demand, Specialty Drinks market demand, Teas and Infusions market demand, Cold Drinks market demand, Foods market demand by the choice of the people from different zone. As per the popularity customer have observed about Costa Coffee, it has different exclusive discount offer for the product of Mocha which is delicious, Latte which is delicious, Americano which is delicious, Flat White which is delicious, Expresses which is delicious and Cappuccino which is delicious. Moreover, it has always running dimension for its ice coffee like Frsotino by customer choice, Coffee Cream customer choice, Lemonade customer choice, and Mocha Cream customer choice. Moreover, it has the policy of pricing at premier for Hot Chocolates by order of customer, Specialty Drinks by order of customer, Teas by order of customer and Infusions by order of customer, Cold Drinks by order of customer, Foods by order of customer etc. The market observation that is found ultimately for Costa Coffee is that the most selling product of Costa is Coffee. There is also a trend to have the proportional pricing as per the quantity ordered. Another version of Costa coffee that is vending with machine under the brand Costa express by the demand of product. There is a variation of price in the context of the product dimension like if anybody wants to add some additional item included in the coffee like extra chocolate, cream etc.
There is a survey of Costa Coffee to the customer where the customer shares their views regarding the Costa Coffee and shares their personal experience for Costa Coffee. It is found from the survey result where customer is telling it has a lot of variation in the combination of element mixtures or the different elements mixtures increase the tastes of Coffee and that’s why it is implied that the Coffee has lot variation. There is also variation in the tastes. The methods of delivery or presentation of servicing is mind blowing. Customer felt amazed by the appreciation with combination of different service variation or in the decoration of the coffee in different symbols. They also keep the variation in their flavor also. Customer have observed about Costa Coffee in different form with the title like Mocha which is delicious, Latte which is delicious, Americano which is delicious, Flat White which is delicious Expresses which is delicious and Cappuccino which is delicious. Customer has also given the title of the food in their choice as Frsotino by customer choice, Coffee Cream, by customer choice Lemonade by customer choice, and Mocha Cream by customer choice. Moreover, except delighted Coffee it has Hot Chocolates, Specialty Drinks, Teas and Infusions, Cold Drinks, Foods etc.
Price:
The payment for the consumption of the product is defined by the pricing methodology. That means price is the amount that has to be paid by the customer to buy the product. In the context of marketing mix, the pricing methodology is very necessary component determines the profit or loss of an organization by selling the product. So, to determine the profit or loss of the company from the sale of the product is necessary to having a proper pricing methodology. Pricing has a big impact on by defining the pricing methodology to set the price for the entire marketing strategy. On the other hand the pricing methodology imposes a great impact on affecting the sales and creating the market mechanism by the demand of the product. Pricing methodology in the marketing mix context is called touch area which can influence the whole company if there is any error occurred in the pricing strategy by observing as well as setting the target market where the customer will be willing to pay a high price if the product has the value to the customer. Pricing always help to create the perception among the customer inherent mind that the product is valued or not. It is always not necessary the lower priced product will attract the customer but the higher priced product may attract the product. Actually it differs to customer to customer, customer mind to mind. And it is focal of the pricing strategy to read the perception of the customer according to their mind set and if it is done successfully then it may entail to have the success pricing methodology set up that will keep the company in the focus of the customer. That is why, it called, and pricing of a product is the huge competitive issue in the competitive market. When setting the product price it should keep in mind of the marketing people that the perception variation must play a vital role in setting the price for a product. As a result, it is the common guideline to the marketer to consider the value like perceives value of the product according to product offers. The following are the major pricing strategies:
- Neutral pricing
- Market penetration pricing
- Market skimming pricing
Now come to the Costa Coffee pricing strategy. Costa Coffee practices the diversified pricing strategy. Moreover, it has the policy of pricing at premier for Hot Chocolates by order of customer, Specialty Drinks by order of customer, Teas by order of customer and Infusions by order of customer, Cold Drinks by order of customer, Foods by order of customer etc. The market observation that is found ultimately for Costa Coffee is that the most selling product of Costa is Coffee. There is also another dimension to set the pricing to the proportional pricing as per the quantity ordered. Another version of Costa coffee that is vending with machine under the brand Costa express by the demand of product. There is a variation of price in the context of the product dimension like if anybody wants to add some additional item included in the coffee like extra chocolate, cream etc.
To be competitive in the huge market competition Costa Coffee has the price the variation of dimension in the price offering and it is successfully influence the customer. The policy of premium pricing of Costa Coffee is known to all. The benefit of the premium pricing is that it defines some exclusive coffee which attracts a lot of customer due to its premium pricing. Moreover, premium pricing of Costa Coffee is more popular in the market as because it has the tag line that the product of premium pricing is highly valued and the quality with the taste of the food is exception up to the mind blowing. In addition to, it provides many attractive offers like discount offers and free coupon. Whatever the product is, there is a variation of price in the context of the product dimension like if anybody wants to add some additional item included in the coffee like extra chocolate, cream etc.
There is also a market survey regarding pricing strategy of Costa Coffee and it found from the result of the survey is that the premium range pricing is popular as generally accepted by the customer and there is no complain of having high price to the product. Moreover it is found that the premium pricing is carrying the brand value and high quality of the product. There is a belief to the customer mind of the of Costa coffee that whatever the regarding its pricing the product is solid and of course tasty and that generate the customer satisfaction of inherent mind to the product. There is another belief to the customer mind that Costa Coffee is always delivering the quality foods which is good for health and there no exception to the pricing that could not be the matter of excuse as the fact of delivering healthy food as well as keeping the quality upto the standard. My personal experience regarding Costa Coffee is that Costa Coffee has attractive pricing strategy like discounting offers and I felt amazed by the appreciation of thus offer variation in the form of variation at pricing.
Place:
There is a general talking regarding the place of the product. These are- Place is required for the distribution of the product. Place is required for the selling of the product. Place is required for the outlay of the product. Place is required for the display of the product. Place is required for the promotion of the product. So, placement is the very important topics in the context of the marketing Mix. A company has the position or place to distribute the product it means he has the opportunity to display the product, to sell the product, to outline the product, to promote the product, and to distribute the product. Above all the circumstances the place is also required to attract the customer. Now come to the point, a company has the place to sell product but there is limited access or the customer has to get trouble to go there or the point of place is totally unknown to all, then everything will be vain even the company has the place to sell the product but it is not attracting the customer.
The marketing people should have depth knowledge in the selection of place and should have the deep understanding for target market as well as target customer as it may become easy to attract the customer. Based the placement consideration the product future will be assumed and it will help to get the better understanding in the concept of designing the efficient positioning and distribution channels. There following are major placement or distribution strategies:
- Selective distribution
- Exclusive distribution
- Franchising
- Intensive distribution
Now come to the Costa Coffee placement and distribution strategy. Costa Coffee is operating is business by the means of different outlets over the 31 countries. It has almost 3300 outlets from the selling and distribution is done to serve the customer. The business of Costa Coffee is operating more than 2121 outlets globally. In London it has 1200 outlets. They have expanded their market in the different zone of Asia, Africa. To accelerate the business they have chosen the place to the most attractive areas like shopping malls, office site, and corporate areas. There is a belief of the Costa Coffee regarding the marketing mix policy of chosen the placement or distribution side they will able to link up with food lovers. From the view point of their marketing strategy it is very clear that their priority is make relationship with customer. They consider different things in the selection of placement and distribution strategy. For selecting the placement for distribution there are different issues involved on which Costa Coffee work importantly to attract the customer those exist and potential customer. Their selection of place is situated in giving the priority to the comfortable and time consuming zone. They have consideration in their kind for upper middle class and rich people according to which the outlets where the place of Costa Coffee are established. High profile shopping malls, good looking theatre places, busy corporate areas and the place like is chosen to the placement and distribution consideration.
There was a survey on Costa Coffee where it is found that Costa Coffee have the intention to make the choice of places and country by the choice of the food lovers where they actually want to take seat. And those food lovers can participate in the online survey to recommend their choice of places.
Promotion:
Without promotion there is no value of the product. Promotion is considered as the very important component in the context of the marketing mix. Promotion can upraise the brand value as well as brand recognition. Promotion can increase the sales. Promotion can penetrate the market. In the context of the promotion the advertising of a product comes forward. Advertising of the product describes the product features. It covers communication between the producer and customer. Customer can know about a product from the aspect of advertising. Electronic media, Print Media, Online Media, and Social Media are the common forms of promotion. But bow a day’s social media has become the most important stage to promote a product. All these are paid form of promotion. Public relations is also the another form of promotion and it is the non-paid from of promotion. One delivery or share the name of the product. On the other hand, exhibitions, sponsorship, seminars, conferences, and events are another form of promotion methodology. Word of mouth is the other forms of promotion.
Now come to the promotion of Costa Coffee. It has less advertise in the electronic media, print media etc. They are very much active in the online media and social media to promote their product. Besides these they use the bill board in different occasions to promote their product. to Their Promotional marketing mix strategy is the word of mouth that is done publicity. The food lovers are the promoter of their company or the food item and as result they are considered as the key promotional partner to marking of the product. They build and keep strong communication with the customer and as a result the customer provides the recommendation. There is an another form of promotional strategy to offer the free sample. It has a loyalty program. The club of loyalty program allows getting discount on foods.
Conclusion
So, at last it could be said that marketing basically help to design the whole marketing strategy and marketing concept.
References
Bhasin, H., 2017. Marketing mix of Costa Coffee. [Online] Available at: https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-costa-coffee/.
Bulman, B., 2015. 10 Facts About Costa Coffee. [Online] Available at: http://www.redbrick.me/lifestyle/10-facts-costa/ [Accessed 11 January 2018].
Costa, U., 2018. About Costa Coffee. [Online] Available at: https://www.costa.co.uk/about-us/.
Leby, 2013. Marketing Strategy of Costa Coffee. [Online] Available at: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Marketing-Strategy-of-Costa-Coffee-F3NFWJJEK6YZS.
MADUSHI, 2017. The Marketing Mix 4P’s and 7P’s Explained. [Online] Available at: http://marketingmix.co.uk/ [Accessed 11 January 2018].
Reporter, 2017. Marketing Plan For Costa Coffee. [Online] Available at: http://www.researchomatic.com/Marketing-Plan-For-Costa-Coffee-118510.html.
Skool, 2017. Costa Coffee Marketing Mix. [Online] Available at: https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17119-costa-coffee.html.
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