Paper expansion

MKT 400 Final Project

Southern New Hampshire University

Moné Jones

December 12, 2021

Airbnb is a company that has changed the way people travel. The company has taken the concept of a bed and breakfast and revised it. Airbnb has become the uber of the travel industry, allowing anyone to rent out their spare bedroom to their entire home. The company started in 2008 when the cofounders needed extra money to help pay their rent. They bought some air mattresses, put them on the floor and charged travelers $80 a night. (jasper 2015) through this concept, the company has gone from making $200 a week growing into a billion dollar company.

All three co-founders, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nahan Blecharczyk are all still active with the company. (“About Us – Airbnb Newsroom,”n.d.) along with these three, the internal stakeholders at Airbnb are responsible for a multitude of things. As with any company which is customer centric, guaranteeing consumers are satisfied, is one of the company’s goals for maintaining their reputation. Happy customers, keeps a brand strong, and a strong brand drives profits. Following up on consumer reviews of the over 2 million listings as of 2015 (jasper 2015), is essential for continued success. If a trend starts to occur on a listing of poor experiences, then the company would have to either investigate, or decide to remove the listing all together. With this, comes the creation and implementation of the company’s community standards. (“airbnb Trust & Safety – Your Safety is our priority,” n.d.) Requiring the listing to meet these standards and local laws are followed is an essential part of the internal stakeholder’s responsibilities. Additionally, the company is run via website and mobile application, so continued development of both platforms would be another important aspect of how internal stakeholders are aiding with the brand development.

Companies are always faced with legal ethical situations. Airbnb is no different, but the company may face unique situations. The company promotes people to allow complete strangers to stay in the homes for long and short periods of time. Theft, damages, privacy, and injuries all come into consideration when deciding whether to become an Airbnb lister. The company does have a variety of protection options at no cost to the Airbnb listers. The company also requires personal info such as a photo ID, address, and phone number of the consumer looking to rent. Listers can also require a copy of a government issue photo ID as well, (‘airbnb trust & safety – your safety is our priority,” n.d.) lastly, the security of both listers and renters would both be a legal and ethical considerations. The company must have proper security measures in place to protect the persons identities, addresses and bank information.

Airbnb utilizes the marketing mix elements well. The product is the listings, consumers pay for a listing of their choice, in the area of their choice. However, the listers have a price to pay as well, a three percent service fee and guests pay an additional 6-12 percent service fee as well. (Folger, 2017) also, the product is clear as well, an alternative to traditional hotels or resorts. The website allows consumers to search for listings, very similar as one would search for hotels on various websites. next place with Airbnb it is literally all over the world, 192 countries. (Jasoer, 2015) the listings include houses, apartments, single rooms, RV’s and condos. Lastly, promotion and Airbnb has come a long way since the early days of the company. It is rumored that the company’s earliest form of driving in listers and consumers was craigslist. Now the company uses actual stories from listers and consumers to advertise how pleasant the experience can be. (Davis, 2016) Airbnb let’s its success and business practices speak for themselves. They do not spend money on fancy advertisements, expensive commercials, rather a successful track record, easy to use website and mobile application and excellent locality information straight from the experts, the listers. Internal stakeholders again provide a huge part in how Airbnb does so well with how they market the brand. Everything that Airbnb does, it reflects on its stakeholders, keeping the website and application running smoothly, fielding listers, keeping security measures in place. Any form of negative publicity could be extremely harmful for the company.

Airbnb offers listings in over 190 countries and 34,000 cities around the world. They offer listings in houses, apartments, single rooms, castles, a treehouse and even an island in Fiji. (salter, 2012) what Airbnb is able to do is continuing to introduce new areas to their already maintained territories. What they do so well is allow their listers to inform their consumers. This is done through guidebooks which allow consumers to view what local listers view as top destinations for that area. This would be the easiest way to introduce a new area and locally, building a guidebook prior to introducing the new listings of the area. This would drive up consumer anticipation and allow insight for consumers before any listings are offered.

Starbucks has gone through the developmental stage, introduction stage, and growth stage. During the developmental stage this is where Starbucks is born and everything they do is trial and error. The company has finally gone in root to the maturity stage. When Starbucks releases an “introduction there are several things that must be done but the first and one of the most important is to let everyone know about your product.”( Is the Starbucks business in a maturity stage? Food News. (2021, August 27). In order for Starbucks to reach/maintain their maturity they do so by releasing new products. For instance Starbucks releases every holiday season cold cup tumblers that are collectable. It not only draw those customers in for their holiday flavors but to make an additional impulsive purchase of a holiday cup. They also feature bags of packaged coffee grounds that way consumers may enjoy their same favorite brew at home as well.

Starbuck started out as a newly up and coming coffee shop. Their goal was to not be a typical coffee shop or be compared to Dunkin’ Donuts. “Since their creation in 1971, Starbucks has been consistently providing a consistent coffee, friendly service, progressiveness, and inclusion that has remained popular among their customer base and has only grown more so in recent years.”( Is the Starbucks business in a maturity stage? Food News. (2021, August 27). It is their mission to provide a comfortable and friendly atmosphere for their customers. Doing so they offer free WiFi, an adequate amount of space for their guests to relax or do work, and they provide a fast and friendly service to their guests. To sit in Dunkin' Donuts is like sitting inside of McDonalds. Starbucks stands out more than Dunkin' especially around this time of year because of the holiday flavors and cups. Yet Starbucks does not spend money on advertisements they are the leading coffee corporation in the US. “In 2013, Starbucks’ market share was estimated to be 36.7%, and it was ranked 91st amongst global brands.” (Is the Starbucks business in a maturity stage? Food News. (2021, August 27).

Starbucks company has such a strong marketing strategy that hits all 4P’s in the marketing mix: product, price, promotion, and place. For product, Their goal is to assure customers that “Our Barista Promise” reaffirmed the company’s commitment to making coffee the way customers like them, and Starbucks delivers on that promise. Customers can request for customised drinks,  as long as they provide the baristas with the recipe . Besides beverages, Starbucks is also known for its branded merchandise. It’s probably the only coffee chain with such an extensive range of lifestyle products.” (Starbucks: The 4PS of success |. TLBB. (2019, November 21). When determining a price Starbucks has the advantage to have a higher price since they are offering such a high quality premium coffee among their other products as well. “Their brand strategy contains two main focal points: customer experience and quality.”( Starbucks: The 4PS of success |. TLBB. (2019, November 21). During the place stage in the marketing strategy you can find a Starbucks almost everywhere. Since they have launched the app you can search for the nearest Starbucks while also having the benefit of reloading a digital Starbucks gift card to make the check-out process much easier while earning “stars” to unlock rewards. Promotion of the brand is mostly on social media. Starbucks has recently bought into the commercial world releasing a commercial promoting their company value of tolerating no discrimination, treating people of all kinds equal.

Starbucks is not selfish with their tasty brewed coffee flavors, they have branched out selling their coffee products conveniently at retailers such as target, Walmart, and chain supermarkets. Starbucks branching out by releasing their product to big box retailers maintains their consistency by promoting among other places, which uses two of the P’s in the marketing mix.

As a customer Starbucks has made a amazing impression of their brand. They are fully dedicated to providing excellent fast and friendly service while in a comfortable atmosphere. Starbucks is a very successful company who has become this successful by word of mouth promotion mostly.

The internal stakeholder's are their employees, customers, suppliers, environment, investors, and governments. "The company satisfies most of the concerns of stakeholder groups like customers, employees, suppliers, the environment, and investors. However, Starbucks needs to improve its CSR performance to reach a 100% CAFE-certified supply chain to maximize environmental benefits. Starbucks can also improve its CSR performance in addressing governments around the world by improving its tax compliance. In addition, the firm can improve youth rates/wages to ensure satisfaction of youth workers in some markets like New Zealand. These are the three main areas where Starbucks can change to boost its corporate social responsibility performance to satisfy stakeholders." (Thompson, A. (2017, January 31).

References

About Us – Airbnb Newsroom. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://press.atairbnb.com/about-us/

Airbnb Trust & Safety – Your Safety is our priority. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.airbnb.com/trust/standards

Davis, B. (2016, September 1). 10 examples of great Airbnb marketing creative. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/blog/68225-10-examples-of-great-airbnb-marketing-creative

Folger, J. (2017, March 6). The Pros and Cons of Using Airbnb | Investopedia. Retrieved from https://www.investopdeia.com/articles/personal-fiance/032814/pros-and-cons-using-airbnb.asp

Is the Starbucks business in a maturity stage? Food News. (2021, August 27). Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.foodnewsnews.com/starbucks/is-the-starbucks-business-in-a-maturity-stage/.

Jasper. (2015, September 18). Airbnb Founder Story: From Selling Cereals To A $25B Company. Retrieved from https://getpaidforyourpad.com/blog/the-airbnb-founder-story/

Rent Out Your House, Apartment or Room on Airbnb (2018). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.airbnb.com/host/homes?from_nav=1

Salter, J. (2012, September 7). Airbnb: The story behind the $1.3bn room-letting website. Retrieved from https://te;egraph.co.uk/technology/news/9525267/Airbnb-The-sroty-behind-the-1.3bn-room-letting-website.html

Starbucks: The 4PS of success |. TLBB. (2019, November 21). Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://tlbb.com.sg/archives/starbucks-the-4ps-of-success/.

Thompson, A. (2017, January 31). Starbucks Coffee's stakeholders: A CSR analysis. Panmore Institute. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from  http://panmore.com/starbucks-coffee-stakeholders-csr-analysis.

What legal and regulatory issues should I consider before hosting on Airbnb? | Airbnb Help Center (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/376/what-legal-and-regulatory-issues-should-i-consider-before-hosting-on-airbnb