How to love the low end
Posted by staff / December 2, 2009
Starbucks recently introduced an instant-coffee product called Via. As of mid-November, it’s also available in a decaffeinated version. This product presented an interesting marketing challenge: Would it affect the high-end image of brewed coffee brewed by Starbucks baristas?
According to Scott Anthony of the Harvard Business blog, Starbucks’s efforts with Via is a great example of how to love the low end of a market. (Disclosure: Starbucks is a sponsor of Alltop)
Starbucks position Via as a fall back when all else fails: a defense against really bad airline coffee, not a substitute for home or coffee house coffee. It tastes pretty good if you do a blind test against home brew. It also works with soy milk. Just nuke soy milk for a minute then stir in a Via. But $1/cup is too much for what it is.