Conspicuous Consumption in Emerging Markets: The Case of Starbucks in Colombia as a Global and Sustainable Brand

Abstract

Conspicuous consumption symbolizes ostentatious and material consumption through the purchase of products and services with a higher economic value and that allows their consumers to excel socially. However, conspicuous consumption often does not represent social and environmental values, because their products are often not characterized by being made through sustainable processes. United Nations, through its sustainable development agenda, invited companies to be aware of the social and environmental problems of the world and to be able to generate strategies that can be sustainable over time and allow the growth of both the company and society in general. This study analyses the case of Starbucks as a global and sustainable brand, which also generates conspicuous consumption in emerging markets. In this way, we explain how this brand generates a social status in emerging markets, which allow their consumers to excel socially. On the other hand, we explain how Starbucks contributes positively to sustainability in these types of markets, generating greater well-being for both the environment and society in general. In this way, this brand manages to transmit messages with symbolic values of social status, as well as social and environmental awareness. This research allows us to see how Starbucks is able to generate conspicuous consumption in Colombia, which is the third largest exporter of coffee in the world but is also capable of generating sustainable processes that help Colombian coffee growers and the environment. This research used a quantitative methodology based on a structured questionnaire made for conspicuous consumers of the Starbucks brand in Colombia, whose data were processed through the statistical program PLS 3.2.7. This research details the sustainable processes carried out by this brand in this developing country and the reasons why its consumption in this emerging market is considered conspicuous. For this research, family allocentrism, ethnocentrism, and patriotism are considered antecedents of conspicuous consumption, and brand image and brand loyalty are considered their results.