Are we going to have to change the way we think about Starbucks? For years now, it has been “coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX),” but new word from CEO Brian Niccol says otherwise. Starbucks is not a coffee company. No, it is a customer service company. And it means to be top of the food chain on that point. Investors applauded the ambition of it all, sending Starbucks up nearly 2% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Recently, Brian Niccol had an interview with CNBC, in which he detailed reasons why Starbucks had just seen its best sales week ever. This was a reasonable enough question; when you know why huge sales success happens, you can do more of it. It may not always work, but it is your best chance to find ongoing success.
But Niccol did not talk price points. He did not talk loyalty programs or even Pumpkin Spice Lattes. What he did was declare Starbucks’ ambition to be “…the world’s best customer service company.” Improving customer service has been vital to Niccol, as part of the Green Apron Service plan. And while it has not always gone well—ask the union for details on that one—the end result is Starbucks not trying to serve a better cup of coffee, but better serve cups of coffee.
Incoming New Tumblers
While Starbucks has been eager to improve its customer service, it also does not forget that it has to have products to sell to those customers. With that, a new co-branded Disney (DIS) tumbler is coming out, and news has emerged about its release dates.
The new tumbler can apparently already be found in the wild at Disney parks, but for those who do not want to drop several thousand dollars on a Disney trip, the tumblers will also be selling online starting September 22. The new tumblers, dubbed the “Mickey and Minnie Mouse Starbucks Tumbler,” are likely to sell out quickly, so be ready next Monday when that day hits.
Is Starbucks Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SBUX stock based on 14 Buys, seven Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 14.96% loss in its share price over the past year, the average SBUX price target of $101.90 per share implies 22.58% upside potential.
