The challenge for Starbucks was very ambitious: to succeed in Italy, with a deeply rooted tradition when it comes to taking coffee, which is also not a luxury product there. The American colossus took the precaution of opening its first store in the international city of Milan, and not in Nápoles o Roma, with greater coffee culture. What could go wrong?
It was a landinghumble y respectful" on the city of the fashion and design”, in the words of its CEO, Howard Schultz, in September 2018. However, four years later Starbucks is withdrawing in Italy and closing in Milan to of of the seven stores that in these years came to open in the country.
Starbucks does not connect with the public in Italy
En 2019 Starbucks got 11 millones de euros profits in Italy, which fell by 44% the next year. His biggest investment 50 million, he did it in Milan in Piazza Cordusio. He furthermore he held her in the old Post Palace, a symbolic building of the city from the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
His failure will have been partly due to the Covid, as some of them were located in office areas. But in Milan, as in other cities; many locals, pizzerias, burger joints and other types of restaurants remained open with takeout and home deliveries. The formula doesn't seem to have worked for Starbucks.
But above all, the fact that Italians are not used to drinking at the bar Frappuccino, Caramel Macchiato or Mocha in addition to other types of coffee offered by the American chain.
Starbucks He also wanted to introduce his brand in Milan, for Italians to carry his paper cup on the street as a status symbols. He wanted to sell the atmosphere of being in his premises having coffee. And perhaps Schultz did not take into account that the Italians take theirs "All espresso brewing methods” as the word indicates, quickly on the bar, and they pay half 1 € compared to 1,80 for the American chain, not to mention the 1,30 for the cappuccino compared to 4,5. Quite simply, the coffee culture is different in Italy.
And now the counterattack
However Starbucks does not give up and announces the opening of twenty stores between now and 2023 in northern and central Italy. With the learning that he has had, he has decided that they will have a different format: the "Kiosks" in the train stations, and the "Short Store", bars in the shopping centers. Do you think the game will work out for them?
