Starbucks Cutting Prices: Coffee Chain Discounts Grocery Coffee By 10 Percent

Starbucks is cutting prices on its packaged grocery coffee in a bid to win over consumers in the fiercely contested coffee industry.

The coffee chain may be more famous for its prepared drinks and food, but it also lends the Starbucks name to a selection of packaged coffee. From May 10, the cost of Starbucks coffee and Seattle’s Best packaged coffee will drop by 10 percent or more.

Starbucks is cutting prices after a number of rivals slashed the cost of their coffee.

From next month, the suggested retail price on 12-ounce packages of Starbucks coffee will drop from $9.99 to $8.99 in supermarkets. Meanwhile, Seattle’s Best will be cut from $7.99 to $6.99. If you buy your Starbucks grocery coffee in a Starbucks shop, the old prices will remain, spokeswoman Lisa Passe told Reuters.

The Starbucks coffee price drop comes after J.M. Smucker Co., the top US packaged coffee maker, cut suggested suggested retail prices on brands such as Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts by an average of 6 percent.

That spurred Kraft into action, with a similar price cut introduced for its Maxwell House and Yuban brands.

Coffee makers have been able to offer discounts after Arabica coffee prices plummeted to their lowest level in nearly three years. By mid-March, prices had fallen to $1.3405 per lb, a 55 percent decrease from the 34-year high reached in May 2011.

The decreasing costs have encouraged makers of instant coffee, who usually buy the more bitter, cheaper robusta bean for their blends, have started buying Arabica beans instead.

With Starbucks cutting prices, will you be tempted to switch brands?

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