Starbucks: Wrapping It Up With a Bow On Top

Everyone’s favorite part about the holidays is receiving gifts. Yes, we try to clarify that it is actually about being together with your family, but who doesn’t love to open a box of something that they have been looking forward to for the last three months. Right now, I am wrapping up this gift of Starbucks knowledge from the last few months.

First of all, I would like to thank you for joining me on this journey of following Starbucks over the last three months. It has been interesting to look at stories for this brand that I am definitely a fan of, and looking at it from a financial perspective has expanded my insights to the company.

My first takeaway from this blog is that the employees of the organization reflect on the entire corporation. Realistically, consumers interact with the lower level employees more on a daily basis rather than the higher level, corporate officers. Therefore, a mistake made by the barista can change the perception of the entire company in a split second. So, I now understand the importance that every employee has on the entire company.

Another key takeaway I had from this experience was how much of an impact advertising has on the products of a company. Starbucks began seasonal advertising campaigns super early for each holiday season. Starting from the early introduction of the Pumpkin Spice Latte to the emergence of Christmas cups, the effective marketing campaigns helped get the message out earlier about seasonal deals. Additionally, simple techniques like these make customers want to buy coffee more so that they can brighten their day with a green and red coffee cup.

Lastly, I learned that international deals have a large impact on large corporations such as Starbucks. While Starbucks is the current leading coffee company on the stock market at the moment, competitors help fuel the company to do better. Since the emergence of Luckin Coffee in China, Starbucks has had to reevaluate their strategy in this region. Also, expanding the corporation to different countries and having their stores reflect the culture of that region really emphasizes the success of the company. Without the international deals, Starbucks would have significantly less profit.

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I would still like to work for Starbucks, knowing what I know about the company. It does seem as if they put a lot of effort into their employees at every level. They are currently excelling financially, sitting at a peak of financial performance at the moment, so it does not appear as if I would need to search for another job shortly after being hired at Starbucks. Personally, I think I would like to work higher up in a Starbucks so that I did not have as much responsibility as daily baristas. Nevertheless, I would still enjoy working at this corporation.

As far as whether or not I would like to invest in Starbucks, I have a mixed response to this question. Yes, the stock is at the top of its performance right now. There was a slight dip over the past three months, but it appears to be on an upward trend again. However, I am curious as to whether or not the corporation will do a stock split in the near future, and it would be easier to invest once they perform this split. Additionally, the last dividend was about $0.41 USD, which seems really low for such a large company. Therefore, I would want to wait a little bit before investing in Starbucks, but I would definitely like to invest in Starbucks in the near future.

With all of that, it is time to conclude my final blog post. As far as my drink recommendation goes this week, I would like to switch it up and ask what everyone else’s recommendation is for myself. I am always open to trying new things. I hope that you were able to try something new over the past three months. Thank you for reading my blog, and happy caffeinating!