Starbucks recently announced the best ever performance in its history for the latest quarter: revenue up 13% globally to $3.7 billion, including 2% growth for the EMEA region covering Europe. It now has 19,000 stores worldwide, and its Starbucks loyalty card grew the dollars held on it by 30%, demonstrating its success in attracting/retaining customers.
What of the UK?
Not so long ago, Starbucks UK was the centre of a storm of criticism for its failure to pay corporation tax, and for a few weeks (or was it just days?) stores were deserted by some at least of its customers.
Not for long, it would seem! Here’s the statement released for the UK:
“Starbucks UK has performed well in its third quarter in FY2013. Sales are higher than in the same quarter of 2012 and sales in each month of Q3 2013 are higher than for the same month last year.
“Sales of Origin Espresso, launched in Q2 this year, are strong. Q3 has seen the launch of a number of new products and the popular My Starbucks Rewards programme continues to perform well.
“As part of our efforts to return to profitability, we have closed another eight stores, bringing the total number of closures for the year to 48. We continue to deliver on our strategy of relocating unprofitable stores to more cost effective locations. We are also consolidating our distribution network and increasing our reliance on franchised and licensed stores, which are more profitable, and have opened a further nine in the period.”
