Chapter 11-Developing and Managing Products

           Recently in October 2013, Starbucks opened the first-of-its-kind Teavana Fine Teas + Tea Bar with Teavana (which Starbucks bought for $620 million last November), in New York City’s Upper East Side. The Tea Bar will elevate the premium tea experience by delivering a carefully curated assortment of handcrafted tea beverages, premium loose leaf teas, tea-inspired food offerings and beautifully made tea merchandise, making the ritual of tea more elevated and accessible for customers.  Over the course of the past year, Starbucks has leveraged a number of its unique assets and capabilities into the Teavana customer experience – including social, digital media, loyalty, card and mobile. The first Teavana Fine Teas + Tea Bar will bring together Starbucks strengths in store design and customer experience, with Teavana’s deep expertise in tea sourcing and blending. Starbucks will slowly add tea bars to its 300 or so existing Teavana stores, which until now sold loose-leaf tea plus gifts and accessories like ceramic teapots and stainless steel infusers. As well as drinks like Matcha Lattes, the new tea bars will sell food to appeal to a health-conscious customer 
          According to recent Euromonitor data, with Starbucks-saturated countries like Japan, China, Canada and the U.K. leading the trend. Globally, tea is the second-most consumed beverage besides water. While Americans still consume coffee at a far greater rate than tea, their taste for leaves versus beans is growing. Data from the Tea Association USA says America’s interest in tea has grown by 16% over the past five years.