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Hitwise Intelligence - Bill Tancer - North America

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Starbucks v. McDonald's: The Battle Brewing

January 14, 2008

My most recent column for TIME is posted here. After hearing about the looming face-off between McDonalds (they've decided to capitalize on the $4.00 coffee craze) and Starbucks (moving in the direction of breakfast sandwiches and drive-thru's) I decided to use Hitwise data to see how similar the web audiences are for the two brands.

Here are two charts that didn't make it into the column. First the swing in age-group between the two (read the chart as Starbucks swing above the line, Mcdonald's below).

And another chart for the difference in household income:

If the web audience mirrors the store clientele for the respective brands, McDonald's will have an uphill battle attracting a new demographic to their stores. But if the goal is to upsell their current customers on a very profitable product, the trending of Starbucks psychographic data over time tells us that its spreading its demographic through all segments of U.S. consumers (including McDonald's key segments). The prediction, Starbucks won't lose customers to McDonald's, but McDonald's will be able to upsell their existing customers on the McCafe concept.

Posted by Bill Tancer at 09:29 AM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Food and Beverage