As I walked into the student union, the stylistic wall of the coffee shop, the Starbucks, attracted me.

One side of the wall has a glass top, and the lower part of the wall, made of wood, is painted bright
red. People can actually see through the glass wall and get to know the activities inside of the coffee
shop. I was fascinated by the two red ceiling lamps which are shaped like flower buds. As I entered the
coffee shop, I was greeted by two big green plants near the entrance. The Starbucks does not really
have a door, making it easier for people to walk in and out. There is a huge food and drink counter at
the right side of the shop. Behind the counter, there is a long table full of different electronic devices
along the wall. Between the counter and the table, there is a fridge just for ice. The colors and shapes
of the food, donuts, bread, and muffin, served in this area appealed my eyes instantly. After I moved
my eyes from the drink and the food in the counter, I noticed a big menu on the wall.
Beside the food and drink area, there is an area filled with tables, chairs, and sofas. The big leather
sofa is sitting along the glass wall and the four smaller sofas are crouching at the corners. Even the
tables are of different shapes, round and rectagular ones. Six bamboo baskets and a shelf , filled with
coffee-related goods, stand quietly next to this area.
I looked around and noticed that the non-glass walls were all beautifully decorated with paintings. The
lights from the ceiling, mixed with the music from the speakers, add an artistic appeal to this shop.
Second Observation:
Time: 10:05-10:25am
The Starbucks was busy in the early morning. Many people were waiting to be served. They looked
high-spirited. Some were chatting with friends while others were just looking around. People of
different age and ethnicities came here to buy coffee or just sit there. It is interesting to note that
most people who bought coffee were in a hurry to leave while those staying in the Starbucks were less
likely to buy drink or food. People who sat in the sofa area were on different tasks: working
individually or in groups on their class projects, just pondering with a serious look, or hanging out with
their significant others and talking in an intimate manner, or just eating with an empty look and
sleeping silently in the corner. Most people in this area talked aloud and they were not really bothered
by the music from the speakers.
Technology played a big part on their activities in the coffee shop. Almost all of them left their cell
phones on the table. Some worked on their personal laptops while some were listening to their ipods
when reading.
The cashiers were busy inquiring what the customers needed and remained polite to every one of the
customers. Even if they asked the same question over and over again, they always had the warm smile
on their face. Sometimes, they talked to each other but never really slowed down their pace.
It is interesting to note that people staying at the sofa area tend to leave at the same time. Around
10:15am, half of them left. Maybe they had classes around 10:30am. As they were leaving Starbucks,
more people walked into the shop and waited in the long line to get a cup of coffee. Most of them look
like students with their heavy school bags on their back or folders in the hand. After they got their
coffee, they left the Starbucks in a hurry.

The Starbucks brand was founded in 1971 and become the most popularcoffee shop in the United States
after 1995. Starbucks Corporation, anAmerican company founded in 1971 in Seattle
s Pike Place Market
, WA,which is a premier roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee aroundworld.
The name of Starbuck was inspired by Herman Melivilles Moby Dick.
In 1991, Starbucks became the first privately owned company in the U.S. tooffer stock option for its full
and part times employees. In 1992, Starbuckshad completed the initial public offering, with common stock
traded on theNASDAQ. The first Starbucks that been opened outside of North Americawas in 1996 which
was in Japan. Starbucks has continued grow over theyears, and up to now, Starbucks has more than
15000 stores in 50 countries
and also known as the worlds premier roaster and retailer of specialty
coffee [ Michael G/Starbucks Annual Report 2010]
Starbucks Malaysia is operated by Berjaya Starbucks Coffee Company SdnBhd, which is a licensee of
Starbucks Coffee International. The Starbucks firststore was opened in Sept, 1998 at Kuala Lumpur. In
2012, the Starbucks hasexpended their business to Sabah and Sarawak after 14
th

years operations.
[Berjaya Annual Report 2012].Starbucks is recognized as the leading specialty coffee company
andindustry benchmarks in Malaysia and has 190 stores in nationwide as in 2015.Starbucks Malaysia
introduced Starbucks Card in Malaysia stores in 2011,where customers are able to enjoy their cup of
coffee with just a swipe atanytime and anywhere. Starbucks further enhanced customer experienceby
introduced Starbucks Card Mobile Application in 2014 which aims tomake the most convenient and
fastest way to pay and customer loyalty

the Starbucks vision is To establish Starbucks as the premier

purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our
uncompromising principles while we grow. The mission statement is to
inspire and nature the human spirit

one person, one cup and oneneighbourhood
at a time[Lawrence, 2015

focus on analyzing

a) To attract customers

offer a high quality products (no preservatives and original arabian beans coffee)
Brand equity is strongly correlated with customer management; quite often it is observed that companies with strong
brand equity have a community of fans willing to support them and their products.

Product branding gives a heavy weight towards the survival of premiumcoffee caf businesses like
Starbucks Coffee. Attached with brand is aname and reputation for commercial entities with usage of
logos,trademarks and symbols. The love for a brand happens when the products is having great
qualityand value for money. Strong values with existence of meanings brandcreated when a person
connected to it reflecting self-actualisation,meanings or cultural identities. It leads to physiological states
such as happiness for being part of using the brand shown as intrinsic reward.

The logo has been simplified over the years in order to be more easily recognizable. As Dooley (2012) discovered,
the less detail you utilize, the more likely the customer will remember it.
Starbucks was highly criticised in 2011 for removing the company name from their logo in order to launch other
products; customers associated coffee so strongly with the company name that these measures had to be taken

SERVICES

people allowed choices

big comfy chairs

place to relax

music

Mass media been utilised by corporation to promote their brands andproducts. Magazines, television and
nowadays internet have been pushedwith advertisement to promote certain products to the masses. It is
adifferent ball game in these premium coffee caf in Malaysia with lack ofadvertisement promoting their
brand in the mass media but still gaining themarket share. Without these advertising applied, the masses
still know about
Green
Melusine
7
logo, visited their caf a
nd desire for latte, macchiatoor brew coffee.

In Starbucks coffee business, the baristas play important role to promote itscoffee products and educate
Starbucks customers on how to consumersuch products (Woldoff, et. el., 2013). Foundation of success in
promotingStarbucks coffee caf is lay down at point-of-sale marketing and servicesby their baristas as
these baristas are Starbucks front liner whom directlydeals with the coffee consumers. It shown strong
values presented byStarbucks Coffee by their baristas to consumers.

Great quality of coffee beverages offer at Starbucks caf is well known bythe mass consumer. Attracting
more consumer, effective method in trendsetting for premium coffee consumption is through words of
mouthmarketing strategy where the caf
barista
plays part to give personal sellingas well as educating customer about coffee beverages.

CAFE ENVIRONMENT

Ambience of these premium Starbucks Coffee caf is one of reasonconsumers willingly accepted to
spend on such coffee. In studies byBookman (2013), the reason repeating consumer goes to Starbucks
for theircoffee is not much related to the test of coffee itself. Starbucks create cafambience, facilitate
certain kind of hedonic or aesthetic experience andsocial interaction. This shown the intrinsic reward to
Starbucks consumerseach time they visit Starbucks caf.

Starbucks caf is located at places where people go for shopping, workingand leisure activities as this is
the effect of cosmopolitan lifestyles. In thisresearch shown that ambience of Starbucks caf is main
reason coffeeconsumers willingly to spend their disposable income for a cup of premiumcoffee and spend
some time to enjoy the environment with reading theirfavourite books or browsing the internet. Starbucks
customers understandthat Starbucks sell it hospitality and rent-out its clean, comforting spacesform
money (Gonzalez, 2014). Location of these caf creates natural fitbetween consumers and its brand. It
makes easy access for consumers toobtain Starbucks coffee brand and their existence of self-identity
tobusiness as well as consumers

Through such relaxing environment of the caf itself become strength factors for Starbuck to attract
existing and potential customers to consume their products.Starbucks customers in Taiwan prefer their
high quality coffee while cosysurrounding as well as prestigious reputation persuade consumer to try
itscoffee (En-Yin, 2012). Concept of third place made by Oldenburg (1989) as

20
people spend their time at home or domestic environment as first place
and the work place which they gainful or productive work as secondplace. A third place is inclusively
sociable, offering both the basis ofcommunity and the celebration of it (Woldoff, et. el., 2013).
In other words, the caf itself became sanctuary for professional to escapeeither from work-related or
home-related problems and it has beensymbolising as a place for certain circle community to
socialise. There areelements of intrinsic rewards (being belongings), positive affect, natural-fitand greater
length of use and self-identity relations to caf ambience atStarbucks. We would suggest a hypothesis as

TECHNOLOGY

Pioneer on caf with internet, Starbucks knows on how to leveragetechnology for its business
benefit. Starbucks clients are becoming moretech-savvy. The business itself is expending because of
consumer mobile devicesAs in Malaysia, customers whom purchase acoffee product at any Starbucks
caf in Malaysia will be given Wi-Fipassword stated in their receipt. This free Wi-Fi facility is given for
2 hours to
each customer per receipt. It shown that Starbucks create mechanism forrepetitive consumers to
consume its coffee beverages.

TO SURVIVE

Coffee house or caf play a healthyrole to community even majority of provided spaces for
multifunctionalwhere people both socialise while using their electronic devices for work.Consumer of
Starbucks finds that their barista is much friendlier and socialisewith them. Even the sitting arrangement
inside Starbucks allocated withsmall chairs and tables which cramp the caf enforce their customers
tosocialise with each other (Woldoff et. el., 2013). The behaviour of Starbucksconsumers interrelated with
emotional bonding that they had with thebrand. Quality of products offered mix with personal relationship
betweenbaristas and customers make the brand to survive along the time resultingto consumers
consume Starbucks
coffee.