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"Raising prices in the middle of a big downturn in consumer spending might not be such a crazy idea, said J. Miguel Villas-Boas, a marketing professor who studies pricing and consumer choice at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley. Though it is paradoxical, it is a strategy premium companies often take, he said.
"Given that McDonald's is capturing some of the consumers less interested in the premium that Starbucks offers, then the consumers left out for Starbucks are the consumers willing to pay more, so Starbucks says, ‘Let's charge them,' " he said.
Connie Williams, 57, a saleswoman in Los Angeles, is one of those customers. She said the price changes would not affect her daily habit of buying a 12-ounce nonfat cappuccino "with a little shake of chocolate" at Starbucks. "I'm hooked," she said. "It's like asking a cocaine addict, ‘If I raise my prices, are you going to buy less?' "
But some customers said the price increase would make them turn away. Elise Walls, 24, a student in San Francisco, visits Starbucks nearly every day for a 20-ounce green ginger tea. On Thursday, she noticed it cost 5 cents more. "I was like, ‘Wait a minute,' because it's already expensive anyway," she said. She plans to start buying boxes of tea bags and making it herself.
The sugary, creamy drinks that will now be more expensive at Starbucks are the same type of beverage that McDonald's has been marketing in a huge advertising campaign. "
