starbucks instant?

Facing declining sales and with shops closing one after the other in the US and worldwide, gourmet coffee giant Starbucks has announced that it will be introducing instant coffee as one of its product offerings.

Egad!!! A SB Instant Coffee??

Inquirer reports that the coffee giant has been brewing this project for more than 20 years. An official statement on the SB site also confirmed that next week, SB will be holding exclusive events in New York to introduce its instant coffee.

The patent-pending technology used in the development of the instant concoction will replicate the Starbucks taste albeit in DIY packets. No need for a barista or a fancy coffee-maker!

And it already has a name -- Via, and that it will be initially sold in packets of threes and twelves for US$2.95 and $9.95, respectively.

Wait a minute! Three packets (or sachets as we fondly call them here in the P.I.) at S$2.95 is PHP138.65. So, that means each sachet of SB Via instant coffee will cost PHP 46.25??!!

Consider the cost analysis ... SB Via will sell (based on the announced price) at almost PHP50 per sachet. One packet of Nestle's regular 3-in-1 is about PHP7 and Nestle's special coffee (the purported healthy ones) sell at about PHP8 a sachet. Kopiko sachets sell at PHP6 while Jim's 5-in-1 Organic Coffee is at the same level. Even the Maxwell sachets sell at the PHP7 range. I don't even know the cost of the other local coffee sellers like Great Taste or Cafe Puro.

And for the same price range as the three-packets-per pack I can already buy one medium-sized bag of Monk's Blend Coffee for use with our coffee maker. I just bought one last Tuesday at PHP144.

So, it would seem that Starbucks would be in a distinct disadvantage if ever their sachets show up on the store shelves one of these days. Whether SB will adopt a different price strategy in the Philippines (if they do decide to intro the product here) remains to be seen.

But re-thinking about it. SB's Via will still have a market in the P.I.

Who you ask?

Well, the same market who actually consumes SB gourmet coffees that sell at the hundred peso range per order, myself included :) Personally, I will most likely buy Via at least once, just for the experience.