Comments on: Starbucks is Broken

By: Victoria

Victoria — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:04:57 +0000

A very interesting idea about free wi-fi but if Bucks was to implement it they would have to make sure that the service wont be abused in the future. Maybe if they were to offer some collect point system, like buy 5 lates and get so many hours of free wi-fi or something along those lines. I know that collecting points idea have been used by companies for awhile now but maybe its an option for bucks.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:48:29 +0000

Wow what a long comment I posted….maybe I should start my own blog =D

And Alex… Peppermint Mocha = yuck =[ haha jk

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:47:47 +0000

… Ian, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never walked into a starbucks because I saw people in line. It’s not one of those businesses. It might work for clubs since there is so much choice while you walk down the street, but I would argue most people walk into a coffee shop when they want something.

Also, the idea for the pods seems interesting, and would work well if Starbucks wanted to give a more techy feel. It would be a far move from their current image and I could see their customer based changing… a lot.

On the Wi-fi, I would just love to know the official reason for the change. And Alex – I don’t think that loading on different cards is unethical – I’m so confident that the folks at the friendly corporate Sbux HQ thought of that before making the change. Feels like there’s some other reason. But from general business practice, despite if it’s wi-fi, or being generous with sandwich toppings, or helping free setup, CUSTOMERS LOVE WHEN YOU ARE NICE TO THEM. It just gets them in a happy mood and makes the business seem more friendly to them, which in return they will throw more dollars at them. Just makes them enthusiastic.

Bottom line – regardless of what happens to their profit, Starbucks’ image just died a little.

By: Dan Cho

Dan Cho — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:06:16 +0000

haha just a random passing thought:

charge for wifi – free the coffee

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:37:51 +0000

so I think there is a balance here to be found as Dan makes a great point. People are sheep. When they see a line they want to get in it. When they see a busy Starbucks they want to be a part of it. Alex, you free the WiFi and I will make pods. Together we will make Starbucks even more millions and we can pay too much to caffeinate ourselves for free WiFi.

FREE THE WIFI!

By: Dan Cho

Dan Cho — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:07:12 +0000

I am on the same boat with Ian about profits down the road.

As a coffee shop retailer (even for those with a greater profit margin achieved by successful product positioning as a higher-quality/higher social class endowing brand like Starbucks – over say… a commoner Tim Horton’s), Starbucks would ideally want to achieve a higher “traffic.” Sure having a full house gives out a message to customers out the window “oh, this is the place to be,” but at the same time it’s deterring people who also want to sit down.
And perhaps you are a very reasonable customer buying a latte every hour – but people like me purchases a cup of Grande coffee, and sit there as long as I want to. haha

I guess that means – all this is happening because of folks like me sorry alex

By: ikonn

ikonn — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:20:35 +0000

Ian: Genius! Super Mocha-frappa-PODS would be a game changer for Starbucks. This might just be the most revolutionary idea that is to hit Starbucks.

Leyla: I can see why you don’t go to Starbucks. I personally love the layout and design of Second Cup but they offer zero free Wi-Fi, it is just pay $10/hour or no internet, hence the reason why I go to Starbucks.

By: Leyla

Leyla — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:01:00 +0000

Great, great point, Alex! I couldn’t agree with you more! In this day & age, it is absolutely ludicrous to think that you can actually charge $10/hr for Internet? They should Definitely offer Free Wi-Fi as an incentive to draw in more customers. Although, I agree with the previous comment’s point – you wouldn’t have a lot of “campers” who’d just get a drink or two, and sit for hours, hogging tables… So it’s definitely a great idea to re-arrange the layout and make it more Wi-Fi friendly, as well as regular customer friendly… So perhaps having a bar all around the perimeter with high seats would be one way to solve the seating issue…But either way, I think they should definitely offer Free Wi-Fi. They would gain me as a customer for sure (although I usually don’t like Starbucks, if they did, I would have a reason to go in now!)

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:42:56 +0000

Hey, so you have a point in that wifi should be a free service… Totally agree. But would it lead to more profits? Not sure. 1 person sits at a table for 3 hours would probably consume 2 drinks and 1 muffin. So that’s $4.50+$4.50+$2.00=$11. However that same table could cater 3 groups of 2 people over the same time frame. Clearly more mocha-frappa-moola for the ‘bucks’!

I personally love loitering, but when I want to sit with my wife nothing bugs me more than the sea of computers with 1 per table.

So, here are my thoughts. Super Mocha-frappa-PODS. Individual sleek pods that have all the geek gadget inputs, put 10 of those in the area you would have 3 tables. Then make the ’sitting area’ more conversational.

Let’s maximize the per sq/ft profit per hour vs. Per person. One can only consume so much caffine.

Cheers,

Grande Vanilla Lattee