Posted on 08/25/2006 11:43:46 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
Starbucks is 'hiding' its cheapest drink from customers in order to boost profits, it has been revealed.
The marketing ploy known as 'product sabotage', in which consumers are cleverly encouraged to buy more expensive and profitable goods, is being used by many major retailers.
Starbucks, the high street coffee house chain, has been exposed by a BBC investigation as one of the chief culprits.
It sells a drink called a 'short cappuccino' which at 8oz is a third smaller and cheaper than the smallest size on the menu. Staff know what it is and have a button on the cash till to charge customers buying one, but most people are unaware of its existence as it doesn't appear on the menu board.
Profit-making
According to Tim Harford, who presents the new BBC2 series 'Trust Me, I'm an Economist', the 'secret cappuccino' is an example of a profit-making sales tactic by which a firm "deliberately damages its best product."
"Choose something off the menu and you're a more profitable customer: the biggest, most lavish drinks generate the highest profits. Coffee companies hide or downplay the cheaper drinks in the hope that customers will buy something pricier," the BBC investigation reveals.
Coffee Republic, another high street chain, also does the same thing and 'hides' its short cappuccino drink. In Coffee Republic outlets there's a "blank space with no price where this drink should be listed."
According to Mr Harford, an author and economist, it's "all part of an attempt to aim different prices at different types of customer."
Restaurants or travel agents ofer free meals or accommodation for children as a way of charging more to childless people who usually have more disposable income, he claims.
While supermarkets package their products to "look more like famine relief" rather than dress them up with "sexy packaging" because they want to persuade richer customers to buy something more expensive instead.
Sabotage
Computer firms also 'sabotage' their own goods. Mr Harford said Intel and IBM have both been guilty in the past of selling a top-of-the-range model at a cheap price, but with some functions disabled or with a chip added to slow it down.
It's more economical to do this than design two completely different models.
So, don't buy it!
Sounds like good marketing.
Another way to describe that is "as a way of attracting families with children who would otherwise not stay there because it's too expensive."
Why even offer it at all if they don't want you to buy it?
My guess is that the customer has to ask for the smaller 8oz coffee cup and then the cashier can give him/or her the deal.
OMG!!! The BBC better investigate college business classes.
Shocking what information can be found in a Marketing 101 course!
Of course it is.
Alternate headline:
"Companies promote items in order to make profit."
I beg your pardon?
lol, I knew the lowest priced coffee at Starbucks was not $3.00!
Why anyone pays that much for a silly cup of coffee with foamy-@#$% on top is beyond me.
This is silly. I think the practice started some time during the Sumerian period. Just don't tell the Beeb. They get such a charge from discovering this stuff.
I'll bet there are employees in this country who are aware of people who could do their job better and would do it for less money. Many of these employees fail to inform their employer of this.....
I buy Ventis anyway, so it wouldn't really matter whether they hid the short coffee or not.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
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