What now for Starbucks?
Post-pandemic, America’s largest roaster has been looking to drive relevance by positioning itself as somewhere where people can find human connection during their coffee runs. This has helped drive sales, with revenue rising 8% to a record $9.43 billion in the final three months of 2023.
However, it is operating in a tough market.
In Jan 2024, the business cut its yearly sales forecasts and missed market expectations amid U.S. and Middle East boycotts, following a pro-Palestine tweet from the union that prompted calls for a boycott on the right and the left.
Narasimhan told investors these boycotts had a “significant impact on traffic and sales”.
Starbucks has also seen negative headlines over how it’s handling relations with workers attempting to unionize, and has seen consumer spending weaken in China (one of its key markets), putting its share price on the back foot.
The Seattle-founded business will be hoping an operational shakedown can help address some of these issues.
“As we look to the future, the opportunity we have is truly limitless,” said Narasimhan. “Throughout our history, we have continued to reinvent not who we are or what we stand for, but what we do and how we connect with our customers and deliver our long-term aspirations. Because of our partners, and with our strategic plan and world class-leadership team, the best days of Starbucks are ahead of us.”
Change brewing for the CMO role
According to data from recruitment firm Spencer Stuart, among the top marketers at Fortune 500 companies, just 36% have the conventional chief marketing officer title. Johnson & Johnson, AB InBev U.S. and Uber are among those to have dropped the CMO position entirely in recent years.
Elsewhere, CMOs like Brewer are moving up the ranks. Christine Hsu Evans, one of ADWEEK’s Marketing Vanguard Award honorees, spent 21 months as CMO of Headspace before being promoted to president last summer; longtime Mars Petcare CMO Leonid Sudakov was recently named president for growth, digital and platforms; and in 2023, Molson Coors elevated Michelle St. Jacques to the new role of chief commercial officer, overseeing sales, marketing, innovation and digital.
As part of its reshuffle, Starbucks has also hired a new chief merchant and product officer, former Saputo exec Lyne Castonguay.