Starbucks new strategy to attract customers has left a bitter taste for at least one customer. John Moore, who worked as a marketer at Starbucks for over eight years, takes issue with the new Starbucks $1 cup o' joe, which undercuts both McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts prices, according to Reuters. John writes, "In a bigger shift in marketing strategy than spending millions on national television advertising, Starbucks is now selling short-sized cups of brewed coffee for a $1.00 and offering free refills at Seattle-area locations...Oh My!. A low-price strategy is indeed the quickest pathway to commoditizing and marginalizing coffee back to being, well, just coffee."

Read John's full post regarding the new Starbucks strategy here.

I have to concur: unless Starbucks is modifying its strategy to be a low-cost provider, per Porter, this would seem to go against their historical approach to providing an "experience" to their customers. What do you think?