Starbucks Plans to Double Number of Stores in Thailand

[Rogie]

If Starbuck's are planning to double the number of their stores in Thailand, I wonder who their projected customer base will be? Ex-pats (Including foreign visitors from countries already awash with their stores), coffee virgins, seduced by advertising, including Thais and other Asians who've up till now only known the delights of 3 in 1 or similar, or a general mix? Alternatively, maybe no advertising is needed, maybe there's a ready audience out there just dying to see a branch open up round the corner from them. As somebody who seldom drinks coffee, and has never drunk Starbuck's coffee, in one sense I couldn't care less what they do but I am curious what it is that's made them so successful. From what others have written, it seems they are either very very successful or a flop in any particular country. Without meaning to be nasty, one thinks of the opportunistic attitude of cigarette companies denied ever increasing profits in their home country, owing to people giving up smoking, who latch on to 'emerging markets' to fill their coffers. I'm certainly not equating coffee with nicotine, just the marketing aspects, although quite obviously I have no idea what goes through the minds of Starbuck's executives, so this is all speculation on my part, but sorry to say my cynical attitude just mirrors the behaviour of this and no doubt many other large corporations.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/03/05/a-closer-look-at-philip-morris-asia-opportunity/

[Guest]

To be fair to Starbucks, they offer a the consumer some relatively healthy snacking options & serve the community by opening as many stores as the market can stand.  That's all good.

In countries where there are few other good coffee shops, that's welcome.

 

However, the big cities in Thailand do offer some other coffee shop chains & some nice independents, which I prefer to use.

 

As for the market, well it must be mostly a mix of middle class Thais plus tourists. The middle class Thai market has to be expanding.

Presumably people on the minimum wage would not be spending half their daily income on a coffee.

[Rogie]

As for the market, well it must be mostly a mix of middle class Thais plus tourists. The middle class Thai market has to be expanding.

 

That's reasonable. We saw in another thread developments in places such as Udon Thani.

 

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8935-issan-booms/#

[Guest fountainhall]

We should not forget location. Starbucks in Thailand seems to have a knack of snapping up some very desirable locations.

[KhorTose]

To be fair to Starbucks, they offer a the consumer some relatively healthy snacking options & serve the community by opening as many stores as the market can stand.  That's all good.

In countries where there are few other good coffee shops, that's welcome.

 

However, the big cities in Thailand do offer some other coffee shop chains & some nice independents, which I prefer to use.

 

As for the market, well it must be mostly a mix of middle class Thais plus tourists. The middle class Thai market has to be expanding.

Presumably people on the minimum wage would not be spending half their daily income on a coffee.

I have noticed the Thais do come to Starbucks a lot.  One is for the snacks (Mango pIe-FH), the other reason is that it seems to be the place to be seen.  Sort of like showing you have arrived.  There are at least 15 coffee shops on the 1/2K long Nimmenheimen Road in Chiang Mai which is near the Chiang Mai University, and surprisening Starbucks is alsways full of students and Thais.

[Rogie]

'Big Brother' Starbucks muscles in on the little guy:

 

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2013/10/18/bungholes-starbucks-demands-arrests-ip-case

[vinapu]

I never been to Starbucks and even before this story broke I was always  proud of it .

 

Yes,  guy's  logo resembles theirs a bit but who believes small guy would be any competition for them , I'd rather say he provides an additional   and free advertisement for brand.

 

I guess they want to teach Thais a lesson with such a unreasonable demand for compensation.

 

My best wishes of healthy heartburn  and indigestion for all Starbucks customers.

[firecat69]

I am not a fan of StarBucks but sure wish I bought their stock.

 

Anyways you have to protect your brand and if you don't more will try to copy your success.

 

I understand what they need to do and can't blame them for it.

[vinapu]

I am not a fan of StarBucks but sure wish I bought their stock.

 

Anyways you have to protect your brand and if you don't more will try to copy your success.

 

I understand what they need to do and can't blame them for it.

While you are correct on those accounts,  amount of compensation they are requesting seems out of whack and it may be potentially damaging their reputation.

 

If I was their competitor I'd make sure to find money in order to finance discretely some 'information ' campaign exploiting this situation 

[bkkguy]

If I was their competitor I'd make sure to find money in order to finance discretely some 'information ' campaign exploiting this situation 

 

And this is your idea of acceptable business practice but defending their legally registered trademark through standard legal channels is not?

 

you will fit in well in Thailand!

 

bkkguy

[vinapu]

And this is your idea of acceptable business practice but defending their legally registered trademark through standard legal channels is not?

 

you will fit in well in Thailand!

 

bkkguy

reprimand humbly accepted, I'm not a businessman so can't say much about acceptable business practices and may be wrong.

 

I don't like an idea of big guy bullying small one using standard legal channels and hope that during my lifetime at least water and air will not be legally trademarked.

 

Defending legal rights, yes. Strangling somebody without anesthetics while doing so , no 

 

As for legality while not advocating anarchy I can notice that during my lifetime in the Starbuck's  homeland it was perfectly legal to force  black person to use back of the bus only and still  in many countries what we are doing with our boyfriends or boys special is legally hanging or even better stoning offence. So legal channels may be manipulated   to somebody's advantage.

[Rogie]

I don't know the current situation, perhaps things have calmed down a lot since Thailand stirred things up back in 2007.

 

Thailand takes on drug industry, and may be winning

 

When Thailand announced earlier this year that it was breaking patents on drugs to treat HIV and heart disease, Western pharmaceutical companies reacted with fury.

 

Abbott Laboratories, the maker of the AIDS drug Kaletra, took the radical step of withdrawing all of its new products from Thailand, depriving Thais of access to new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, heart disease and high blood pressure.

 

"Thailand has chosen to break patents on numerous medicines, ignoring the patent system," said Jennifer Smoter, a spokeswoman for Abbott, which is based near Chicago. "As such, we've elected not to introduce new medicines there."

 

 

Tough talking, but . . .

 

. . . two months after the uproar began, there are signs that Thailand has gained the upper hand. Its aggressive stance could be paving the way for other developing countries to extract lower drug prices from pharmaceutical giants in Europe and the United States.

 

Abbott announced Tuesday that it would cut the price of Kaletra in low-and medium-income countries, including Thailand, to $1,000 a patient per year. That is less costly than any generic on the market and 55 percent less than the current price, the company said.

 

 

Understandable comments from Big Pharma . . .

 

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America argues that U.S. consumers are unfairly carrying the burden of financing research for the rest of the world.

 

"Americans are effectively subsidizing other countries' health systems through higher prices, while having fewer medicines from which to choose," the group said in its complaint to the U.S. government.

 

 

And at least one Thai is a fan of Chinese proverbs!

 

Suwit, the Health Ministry official, advises drug companies to learn from what he describes as a Chinese proverb:

 

"Less profit means more profit."

 

"If you sell at a lower profit per piece," he said, "people will consume more."

 

 

 

A message for Starbucks here, or am I stretching the analogy too far?

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/world/asia/11iht-pharma.4.5240049.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[vinapu]

_{Guy selling coffee on the street for 20 baht is not even competition to Starbucks " classy ' venues as he serves different market sector.}

 

_{While drugs companies may be right that thy are subsidizing health system of poor  countries they are just repaying favor as cheap labor in poor countries is subsidizing prolific consumption in the reach part of the world. At end both sides can be winners as long as some balance is maintained . Gee, I sound like Brezhnev but so be it.}

[Guest RyanJ]

The extremely wealthy punishing the poorer folk as an example. I believe it's defined as scapegoating. Possibly not fair justice, yet still within the confines of judicial process. Now who would like to defend the actions of Starbucks 300,000B vs the working class family man? Really.

They gotta protect their brand right?

or perhaps not right.

[vinapu]

nothing wrong with protecting brand but against real threat. Case we are discussing is case somebody trying to kill mosquito with baseball bat