Coffee shops are a dime a dozen these days – found on every street corner, college campus, and gas station. So how in a country where coffee is all but dripping from the tap, is Starbuck’s unique?
Well it’s not…really. This is why over the
past few years Starbucks and its CEO, Howard Schultz, have been introducing
different ideas to stand out from the crowd.
In 2008 7,100 stores closed for three
hours to re-train its staff.
"Over
the years we kind of lost our way," said Schultz. The intention of
this training, he said, was to “energize
its 135,000 employees and provide some barista re-education in the ‘art of
espresso’.”
In 2010, Starbucks
began offering free Wi-Fi to its customers, with no registration or account
required and no time limit.
Now in
2011 Starbucks is launching the Starbucks
Digital Network (in Partnership with Yahoo!).
All of this is
done with the goal of making Starbucks your choice for the third place
- place where you’ll walk in and feel at home (because your barista knows your
name and your usual drink), where you can plug in and log on for free.
Do you buy it?
PR executive, Kenneth
D. Makovsky (not connected with Starbucks as far as I could tell) does.
“Further, think about the transparency of the strategy from a customer vantage
point and the support it likely engendered from many quarters. Most of the time
management in similar situations does not publicly acknowledge the problem and
would conduct such training sessions in secret. In this case, the president
openly announced that things were not what they should be and needed to be
improved.”
Well maybe I
am cynical, or maybe I have just settled comfortably into the readings for
CS502, but I think this particular example (barista re-education) lacks
a bit of authenticity and has a slight smell of gimmick. I mean, what
better way to get positive PR and reinvigorate some of your lukewarm customers?
The truth is, Starbucks is a company like all others – it employs human
beings, and human beings sometimes screw up, regardless of how much training
and re-training they receive.
I’m not the
only one that doesn’t quite buy it.
There is a lot
of chatter online these days about Starbucks lack of follow-through on their “third
place” philosophy. The company promotes free Wi-Fi with no time limit. However,
what’s happening on the ground is not quite the same.
Many
customers in large markets such as NYC have been complaining that stores
are blocking the power outlets to cut back on Wi-Fi freeloaders. So basically,
you can access free Wi-Fi with no time limit imposed by Starbucks, just by the
life of your battery.
I’m not sure
this is the sort of Word of Mouth PR that Starbucks was hoping to garner
from their latest ploy; but the people shan’t be stopped! The beauty of
the internet – a soapbox to stand on. And thanks to Starbucks themselves, it’s
a free soapbox to stand on.
I've never been a huge fan of Starbucks (or coffee shops in general). I suppose this may have something to do with the fact that I'm just not much of a coffee drinker. But I'll say this much- in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, when I was without power and internet access for days, I suddenly became a regular at the local Starbucks (and McDonald's, though it pains me to admit that) to enjoy the WI-fi.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Kel. I, too, am a little cynical about the PR spin of a chain-wide professional development day. It's great that they acknowledged a problem, but the "re-education" could've taken place in shifts or off-hours or even rolling closings, as opposed to making it a PR event. In terms of free Wi-Fi, it'll be interesting to see how long places like Panera and Starbucks can offer this perk. With so many professionals abandoning traditional workspaces to work from home, it seems the "third place" concept that Starbucks wants to promote has the potential to really just become a hybrid of the home and work spaces.
ReplyDeleteIt is a big help to have this free offering, especially after weather-related damage or a tight budget. When I didn't have power for a few days, I hung out a lot in my town's Starbucks to be able to continue my job searching and do school work. But it does seem that there's an obligation to buy a drink and/or snack to avoid being thought of as a freeloader.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to hear what you think about Starbucks' "Create Jobs for USA" initiative.
I will say that Starbucks, at least the few that I was in during the wake of Irene, were very generous with their electricity and wifi. But in that case, I do think people were also more generous with their wallet than they usually would be freeloading those sorts of things given that they were going without food and coffee at home.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I think that this is the world we live in - we take more than we give.
What makes Starbucks unique? Three words - tall, grande, venti! :) I mean, what a way to mess with your head! Renaming cup sizes, instead of the usual small, medium and large. Let's not forget the prices they charge! Interesting enough, people willingly shell out more than a $1 for coffee. As for their free Wi-Fi, no complaints about that. I buy a cup of their Tazo Tea and use their Wi-Fi every now and then.
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant marketing strategy to me! Once you have the people in your store they're more than likely going to buy something. If you compare the cost of offering the WiFi to how many cups of coffee it takes to pay for it, I'm sure they're making money hand over fist.
ReplyDelete