I've been thinking a lot about focus lately in terms of business and deciding what products and services you offer. I'm a strong believer in Al Ries's preachings that focus is one of the most critical (and overlooked) principles of business and marketing strategy. I pay a lot of attention to focus, especially since I always have a tendency to want to do a million different things, which I know is not the way to do things really, really well. But, like most gurus and pundits, Al makes things sound simpler than they are. Deciding what the proper level of focus is is difficult. One of the examples he talks about is Starbucks. A big reason Starbucks became a juggernaut is because they focused on the coffee business. Prior to Starbucks, there were "coffee shops" on every corner in America. But these coffee shops were also restaurants, deli's, beauty salons, etc. By focusing on coffee, Starbucks came to own the word "coffee" in people's minds. Ries basically says that any "line extension" -- offering of new, different products -- is a bad idea. That the more focused you are, the better. But does that mean that Starbucks should only sell coffee, one kind, one size, nothing else? It doesn't seem like it. It seems like it makes sense for them to serve various espresso drinks, tea, hot chocolate, and pastries, as well. They can do all these things and still own "coffee," because they're all in the realm of coffee. Now, Starbucks is expanding into lunch. This clearly seems like a bad idea. Starbucks means coffee. Not lunch. If it tries to mean lunch, it will not as strongly mean "coffee."


My original point of this post wasn't about Starbucks getting into the lunch business, however. I don't remember my original point, actually. Except that not all line extension questions are this clear to me.