Starbucks, the American coffeehouse chain, is an incredibly successful company. It may sound self-evident, but amongst all the pumpkin lattes and grande jokes, it’s easy to overlook how and why the company has come so profitable.
Last year, Starbucks reported generating $21.31 billion in sales and revenue . That number is almost a two billion dollar jump over what it reported in 2015. It’s also consistent with the average $1-2 billion annual revenue increase it’s had for the last few years.
With the year-over-year of success, it can be hard to imagine a time when the company wasn’t successful. However, despite opening in Seattle, Washington in 1971, the brand wasn’t profitable until the early 1980s. Just a few years later (1987), Starbucks began an aggressive campaign to capture more of the market, opening an average of two new locations a day until 2007.
Since its explosive expansion, Starbucks has grown to over 23,770 locations worldwide, with almost one third of that number overseas.
The story of Starbucks goes beyond simply being inspirational. After all, it wasn’t luck or just simple determination that led to it’s success. It was the company’s innovative logistics strategies that kept old customers returning and won over new coffee-lovers.
This month, we thought we’d focus on how logistics is key to the budding success of Starbucks.
Starbucks and Logistics There are many lessons that the story of Starbuck’s success can teach us. It’s an example of how looking to the fundamentals of logistics and supply chain management benefits strategy, organization and execution. It, and other retail giants, are seeing success for these reasons, which is a lesson for smaller companies aiming to grow or improve their operations.
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