STARBUCKS INDONESIA: BACK AND FORTH IN CUSTOMER’S PERCEPTION

One still could vividly remember when Starbucks first opened its first store at Seattle, United States of America on 1972 and the hype suddenly went breakthrough like a wildfire from the State only into nationwide and upon 1996, Howard Schultz as Starbucks’ owner decided to go international.

It wasn’t long before that when Starbucks opened its first store in Indonesia and the buzz that already went along the words that already whispered in everyone’s ears gone crazy. The cozy ambience and the promise of “delivering the best coffee only for you” from the company to the consumers have been the magic words among Indonesia’s socialite and all in sudden, Starbucks’ coffee stores flocked with people. Now everybody could enjoy their nice cup of Frappuccino™ or Café Americano at the good-looking place with sweet and slow jazzy tunes at every Starbucks coffee store or simply grab the signature cup of Starbucks and bring it everywhere, be it campus, school, office or simply for hangout purpose.

The opportunity for Starbucks at that time when they entered Indonesia market was still big for there were only several small players at Indonesia. Coffee store and café business never been taken seriously and people accepted coffee-drinking activities as side activity which did not have any added value for any other means. Indonesian even didn’t recognize coffee as one of their primary habits. However, the hype started around 1999, not so long after the crisis that hit several regions at Southeast Asia. Indonesia, by any means, considered as a very interesting place for Starbucks to expand. However not so long after the trend started, recently nowadays Starbucks isn’t the only player at Indonesia. Thanks for the hype and buzzwords, more and more competitors barged into the market, be it from foreign players (Gloria Jean’s Coffee, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf) or domestic players (Bakoel Koffie, Bengawan Solo Coffee) and all of them even offered similar beverages and “experience” as same as Starbucks. They create same ambience, same coffee and even, same packaging – only in different brand name and label.

This kind of situation forced Starbucks to think hard and long because even though Starbucks already got big name and big time at United States where it is originally came from, the market in Indonesia is totally different. They are playing at different culture, different consumer’s expectations and even different purchasing power and Starbucks realized it clearly that in order to survive in this volatile market of Indonesia they should take the right approach.