So the Stores are a Bit Different, but What About the Websites?

Now back in the States, I have been able to reflect upon all the observations I made at the various Starbucks shops in London. I'd like to first start by saying, I was impressed and blown away by the consistency in each shop, especially because of the large number of shops in the city. I really did enjoy my daily trips to Starbucks, both getting my drink and observing the goings on in each shop. With the shops aside for a bit, I'd like to now look at the Starbucks website for the U.S. and the UK. I briefly scanned each site before I left on my journey to get a glimpse of what I was about to dive in to. I noticed from the get go that there were substantial differences on each site. I knew that I wanted to explore the shops before getting too in depth about the sites, but now the time has come to explore the differences on the web. I would like to first provide a screen shot of the U.S. Starbucks site as well as the UK Starbucks site. It will be quite obvious just by looking that there are differences from one site to the next.

United States Site:

United Kingdom Site:

As you can see these sites are quite different from each other. In fact, the background color and logo are basically the only similarities between the two. My initial thought when comparing the two websites is that the design was based on the cultures of each country. It appears that the U.S. site is trying to hold true to the American idea that "more is better". On the home page of the U.S. site are videos, links to Twitter and Facebook and a variety of other links leading to the menu and the Starbucks Card. Before I looked at the UK page, the U.S. page did not seem like anything out of the ordinary. Being a citizen of the U.S. I find loaded web pages to be the norm and I would find anything less to be a bit odd. After living in London for three weeks and soaking up a bit of the culture, I now have a new outlook on the U.S. page and also why the UK page looks the way it does. I found the culture in London, while fast paced, to be a bit more reserved and refined than that of the U.S. In addition to the differences in people, the method of advertising was also a bit different. With the majority of Londoners utilizing the mass transit system, people have time to read during commutes to work and elsewhere. I found the advertisements to have more copy, some with video and all were eye-catching. While this project was not about studying London advertising, I do think this information is helpful to understand why the UK Starbucks website is the way that it is. It only makes sense that people spend more time reading and looking at "adverts" in the underground and buses than online. It would make sense for Starbucks to channel its time and money into ads off the web to grab attention of commuters. Advertisements are not the only information on websites however, and the rest of the online content is the next level of information that I would like to explore. Both sites include menus, which showcase the main function of the Starbucks organization. Through my visits to different Starbucks locations in the UK and being a long-time patron to Starbucks in the U.S., I did notice some very different menu options in the UK. These differences that I have mentioned in the weeks prior, are also shown on the websites. The items on the menu are not the only differences, the layout of the online menus are quite different as well. On the U.S. site there are several ways to reach the menu and multiple ways to view it. It comes as no surprise to me that on the UK site there is one method of both getting to and viewing the menu. These differences again go right back to the cultural differences of the countries. I definitely do not want to sound like I am stating that one site is better than the other. I find it interesting and fascinating that the cultural identities have been considered in everything right down to the website layout. It is quite clear, with over 150 locations, that Starbucks is thriving in London. I think that part of the company's success can be attributed to the fact it has been so careful to respect the culture in which it entered. Like I mentioned before, I was so impressed by the uniformity of good service that I experienced at all shops. While the character and clientele may have varied from shop to shop, I was always certain that I was going to have a good experience. I think that Starbucks is definitely an example of a company that has successfully gone global.

AM