Consumers' perception on Starbucks' experience economy: a case analysis

Abstract

The thesis entitled, Consumers' Perception on Starbucks' Experience Economy: A Case Analysis, studies the concept of experience economy and determines whether this type of economy actually exists. It gives an analysis on how this fastest emerging trend in the economy works. It seeks to explain experience economy through evaluating Starbucks coffee company as one of its examples. It also aims to analyze and evaluate how Starbucks is considered as an experience economy.

Experience economy, according to Joseph Pine and James Gilmore’s The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage, is a new economic trend where experiences are utilized as a premium that the company could charge for. It explains how goods and services are everywhere being commoditized. It also explains that customers today want experiences– memorable events that engage each customer in an inherently personal way.

Starbucks is one potential example of the experience economy through its way of delivering products and services. In the Philippines, Starbucks is becoming more and more phenomenal thus, it is timely to study the reasons of its emergence and seek to understand its underlying Filipino culture. The customer satisfaction towards the service quality of Starbucks will be studied together with the factors that contribute to being an example of experience economy. With this, the study also intends to create a general understanding on how experience economy works. Through this study, the researcher will also find out how Starbucks is related to certain theories of consumer behavior such as the snob effect, hyperreality, marginal utility and consumer preference.