Starbucks: Sensory Marketing

Starbucks is the world's largest chain of coffee shops, with roughly 40 million visitors per day. A visit to Starbucks is more than just a cup of coffee. Starbucks uses a sensory marketing framework to create a deeper and more personal relationship with its customers. This is achieved by involving all five human senses, to offer the customer the total Starbucks sensory experience.

In 1980, Starbucks developed a strategy for creating and delivering a sensory experience to consumers as a way to strengthen the brand. 

The green and yellow interior, with pleasant lighting provides a relaxing visual experience. The music is carefully selected with precision to create the 'sound of Starbucks'. The sound of a coffee being prepared, the sound of the coffee machine and the pleasing sound of coffee beans. The human nose can identify and recall as many as 10,000 scents and 75 percent of human emotions are generated by what we smell. Coffee is known for it's delicious aroma, so Starbucks made sure that the smell was strong enough to draw customers in, as smell dominates your senses. Starbucks even stopped serving breakfasts because the smell of the eggs interfered with the smell of the fresh grinded coffee.

The success of Starbucks is due to the use of good sensory marketing. Starbucks creates memorable moments which relates to a customer's senses and naturally these senses are stored in the customers memory. Using all human senses makes a Starbucks experience hard to forget.