Marketing Approaches in Green Mountain Coffee

Introduction

Analyzing the current state of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), it is possible to conclude that despite the ranks given by Forbes magazine, the company still has much to develop. Back in the 90s, GMCR reached great heights through collaboration with Keurig Inc. After merging with the Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2018, GMCR becomes a part of Keurig Dr Pepper, the third largest beverage company in North America (2). Despite this status, GMCR itself remains a niche. The companys philosophy is based mainly on the taste of the product, environmental friendliness, and proper working conditions.

Following the research conducted by Adeleke, several marketing approaches can be suggested to expand GMCRs customer base (1). First of all, the company should pay more attention to social media for marketing, promotion, and branding. Adeleke notes the effectiveness of this method in section 7.1 of the work. GMCRs Facebook and Instagram accounts are quite low in activity, even though it does have them. This fact certainly does not allow the company to obtain greater audience coverage. In addition, GMCR could focus more on customer service and personalization since this allows not only to attract new customers but also to keep them.

International and domestic events effects on Green Mountains marketing strategy and sales

As Tucker notes in Chapter 15 of her book, the coffee market is volatile (4). Answering the question of what this might be related to, unforeseen circumstances and the delay between planting and the first harvest should be mentioned. Due to these two factors, supply often exceeds the demand, which causes the products price to fall. As soon as the price goes down, the production also goes down, which further leads to a deficiency in supply. After prices rise, this cycle repeats since manufacturers are trying to sell more coffee at a higher price. Furthermore, the price is affected by weather conditions, disease outbreaks, and social instability. The coffee market is also influenced by the state of the plantations of the largest suppliers. Assuredly, all of these reasons apply to the marketing strategy and sales of GMCR.

Domestic economic and social factors also have an impact on the company. Like any business, GMCR is affected by the states economic policy and legislative changes. Since Keurig Dr Pepper began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018, it has been a subject to the influence of the USA markets financial state. Various social tensions and natural cataclysms in the country invariably reflect in the companys marketing.

Green Mountains perspectives in South America

According to Krishnan, 65% of the worlds coffee is consumed by only 17% of the worlds population (3). This fact provides an extraordinary opportunity for market expansion through the promotion of coffee consumption in both producing and consuming countries. Since GMCR sells coffee collected mainly not in South America (only one of the four varieties is grown in Colombia), there is a real chance to sell products on this continent. However, the difficulty is that Brazil is the worlds largest coffee producer nowadays. Additionally, South American countries are not among the top ten coffee importers. Nevertheless, GMCR focuses on environmental safety, natural forest ecosystem keeping, and uniqueness of production. The company cooperates exclusively with its own farmers and uses only certified beans for sale. Presumably, it will be difficult for the company to establish itself in this territory, but the marketing strategy sets it apart from its competitors. Due to the fact that more attention is paid to environmental security each year, GMCR has a real chance to gain its audience.

Works Cited

Adeleke, Abi. A Case Study of the Marketing Tools Coffee Shop Owners Use to Sustain Businesses. Open Journal of Business and Management, vol. 8, no. 2, 2020.

Keurig Dr Pepper Completes Merger between Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Bevnet, 2018.

Krishnan, Sarada. Sustainable coffee production. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. 2017.

Tucker, Catherine M. Coffee culture: local experiences, global connections. Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Footnotes

Adeleke, Abi. A Case Study of the Marketing Tools Coffee Shop Owners Use to Sustain Businesses. Open Journal of Business and Management, vol. 8, no. 2, 2020. Web.
Keurig Dr Pepper Completes Merger between Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Bevnet, 2018. Web.
Krishnan, Sarada. Sustainable coffee production. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. 2017. Web.
Tucker, Catherine M. Coffee culture: local experiences, global connections. Taylor & Francis, 2017. Web.