Think about it. Everyone now has a free wireless hotspot within close proximity to work and home (Starbucks stores are everywhere). All they need is a membership card. The barrier to getting one of these cards is minimal: put a few bucks on it and use it whenever or never. Now Starbucks has put a piece of plastic in everyone’s wallet with their logo. Visa is probably the only other company to claim that.

Maybe the next step would be to ensure that everyone drinks from a Starbucks travel mug. Follow in Whole Foods footsteps and initiate a green campaign to limit the use of paper cups and give free cups to customers along with incentives to use them frequently.

When did the switch happen? When the stock price fell? When targets expected by industry analysts are not inline with actual? Let’s face it, Starbucks is massively successful and sure they need some tweaking which is a byproduct of _any large multi-national_ company.

Everyone’s product could be better. I don’t really get where Starbucks needs to get a lot better than other enterprises (like Peoplesoft’s horrendous apps)

Apple has a “cool” halo around it, Starbucks does not, and should not. I think your overall point is correct (obviously) focus on the total experience, of which, a good (not superlative) cuppa joe is just a part of that.

I would say they already mastered the art of a controlled experience. Starbuck in China, of which I’ve visited about 5, is surprising how well they have mastered a controlled experience that is identical store to store.

The parallel you should be drawing to Apple is… How does Starbucks keep their experience fresh and exciting? The comparison is flawed ultimately because Apple has freshness and excitement merely because they can announce new or revised products nearly every month. Starbucks cannot.

It may also be useful to recognize the different goals customers have: end goals (get coffee), experience goals (feel unique: double tall sugar-free hazelnut latte), life goals (only have the best).

I can see that Starbucks doesn’t need or want to be Dunkin Donuts, but outside of cities like NYC, San Fran, Chicago, etc. is there a need for place to hang out?

I lived in the midwest, I drove everywhere. Starbucks was not a unplanned stop.

I suspect the market is saturated and outside of big cities they should just be a nice coffee shop..

Great article.

- stop on the way to work to wake up in the morning
- take a business discussion offline, over a coffee break
- feed my snack craving
- work, but feel like I have companionship (rather than working alone at
home)
- conduct a meeting with business associate (conference room w/out walls)
- chat privately with a friend
- cram for a test
- study, possibly meet other students studying the same thing
- kill time before my meeting, reading
- talk about a movie I just saw with companions/others around me
- find out what’s going on in this little part of the neighborhood

There is a fun Pacific Coffee shop in a shopping mall called “Festival Walk” in Kowloon Tong, close to a University, where they have provided a book shelf full of books, desks for students to study with lamps, PCs for internet access, Wifi access (not free), flat screen TVs to watch the news and game machines for kids to play.

It much, much more than drinking coffee - its a home away from home in a city where space matters