Money Beat
From Your Wallet to Wall Street: The Money News That Matters to You From the ABC News Business Team
RECENT POSTS
- Recession Hits One-Year Anniversary
- Skip Black Friday, Still Get Bargains
- The 'Citi That Never Sleeps' Has Good Reason Not To
- Four Weeks In, Billions Don't Restore Faith in Banks
- Wal-Mart Replaces Its CEO
- Relief at the Gas Pump ... But for How Long?
- Should You Still Believe in Buffett?
- Automakers Up Their Ante: Is $75B the New Price of an Auto Bailout?
- Dismal News From GM, Ford; GM-Chrysler Combo on the Rocks?
- The Big Three Meet With Pelosi
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
« Previous | Main | Next »
Drips Keep On Coming
August 05, 2008 5:54 PM
ABC News' Charles Herman reports: Another drip in the Starbucks story.
Have a cup of steaming hot coffee in the morning and get a second cup of chilled coffee for only $2 after 2 p.m. Called the “treat receipt,” it covers any grande cold drink – from coffee to frappuccino – and that could be a discount of more than half off the regular price.
With store traffic falling and sales declining, it’s another attempt to get customers to come back to Starbucks and spend their money. Many retailers have been hurting as consumers struggle to pay higher prices for food and gas.
“They are trying to drive traffic and make it part of the afternoon,” said Patricia Edwards, managing director with Wentworth Hauser & Violich, who has followed the company for many years. She said Starbucks hopes customers will build an afternoon visit to Starbucks into their routine.
Trying to figure out what Starbucks drinkers want, the company is even offering people a chance to win $1,000 if they share their thoughts with the company. Recently, after ordering two coffees and coffee cake, I was handed a super-long, 14 inch-long receipt (I checked) with a request from the company to share my comments at www.StarbucksCustomerVoice.com.
Checking out the site, I found it asks you if you took your order to go or stayed at the store. Did you purchase a hot or cold drink and what type, specifically? There are also questions about other items you may have purchased, followed by your opinions about the service, how friendly the baristas were, and how the drink tasted. Then the survey asks you to judge the overall value for the price you paid and if you would recommend this Starbucks. Toward the end, Starbucks wants to know if that particular store feels like part of your local community, if you prefer this store to other stores and if the “experience was uplifting.”
But it’s not over there. Next up are questions as to whether or not the employees engaged you in personal conversation, did they recognize you, focus on your needs and make you feel welcome in the store, perhaps saying your name. Look out baristas! You could be getting a secret review of your service as my receipt had a five-digit store number and that was the first series of numbers I had to input.
And that is the goal. A Starbucks representative said the survey will get direct feedback from customers about specific stores and the baristas at the store, so “we know and they know how they can serve their customers better and what they are doing well.” Or not so well, as the case may be.
The sweepstakes began a few days ago and each month it is running, the company will pick ten people, each winning a $1,000 prize.
I’m wondering, though, how many people get receipts at Starbucks? It’s a crucial step for both of these promotions.
But, fear not, if you want to enter the sweepstakes, it’s “no purchase is necessary.” If you check out the rules section on the Web site, you can submit your name on a 3 x 5 card.
Reduced prices? Sweepstakes? Starbucks? Is the premier coffee company acting like a traditional retailer in these tough economic times? “It might lose a little cache,” said Edwards, “but cache is not selling today.”
August 5, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (17)
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/433071/32065808
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Drips Keep On Coming:
When $2 for coffee is considered a bargain you understand why so many Americans are in economic trouble! You can get good coffee for under $1, regular price, in many corner stores. When they say "it might lose a little cache" they mean "they might lose some of the ability to fool you into thinking you should grossly overpay for coffee".
Posted by: Mickey | Aug 6, 2008 10:13:17 AM
But you forget, you have to actually buy the full priced coffee in the morning, THEN come back and get the chilled coffee for 2 bucks in the afternoon. What a bunch of idiots. -_- lol
Posted by: Beth | Aug 6, 2008 10:36:09 AM
Even though I don't drink coffee, $2 is a lot better. Maybe gas prices could follow suit?
Posted by: Rick | Aug 6, 2008 11:06:23 AM
Just make a good drink and say hello and have a good day when I'm ready to order. That's all I ask. I don't want to get to know you. I don't want you to call me by name. It all comes off very contrived anyway.
Posted by: rktmn | Aug 6, 2008 11:53:54 AM
Just make a good drink and say hello and have a good day when I'm ready to order. That's all I ask. I don't want to get to know you. I don't want you to call me by name. It all comes off very contrived anyway.
Posted by: rktmn | Aug 6, 2008 11:53:56 AM
Starbucks wants to increase business? Take $1 off the price of coffee beverage. They are severely overpriced, especially when the coffee drink costs more than some of the breakfast sandwiches. No coffee beverage should cost over $4 - that's just nuts.
Posted by: Sheila | Aug 6, 2008 1:35:08 PM
$2 is still a lot for many. When they finally realize that they should just make regular coffee at $1 range, it can then called price cut. By the way, all they have to do is to make lighter/weaker coffee (with 20-30% more water) and then lower the coffee price all together. Starbucks coffee always tastes too strong for me anyway.
Posted by: Cellisis | Aug 6, 2008 1:36:18 PM
Many who work at Starbucks are hot though. That's part o fthe cache.
Posted by: Pig | Aug 6, 2008 4:13:14 PM
Maybe Starbuck's should do what the futuristic Starbuck's did in the movie "Idiocracy"...Have more of a stripper theme and provide "handies"...I'd pay 4-5$ for a coffee then.
Posted by: Upgraydd | Aug 6, 2008 5:20:34 PM
There's a very pretty young woman working at the Starbucks in Union Station (DC) who always gave me a special smile and remembered what I drank - in spite of the thousands of people she must see every day. Made me wish I liked coffee :-)!
Starbucks coffee is terrible, which makes it even more overpriced.
Posted by: Bob | Aug 6, 2008 7:50:48 PM
Starbucks is hurting in the US but in Europe a visit to a Starbucks sets you back significantly. In Prague, for example, a regular cup of black coffee is about $7. You read correctly! 7 US Dollars! Europe is where they feel they will make their money as more and more Americans opt out of getting a cup to go since gas prices have taken that luxury away. And the Starbucks in Prague and Vienna are always full - full of Americans usually because it's a bit of home. Yeah, price gouging is something that Americans can feel proud about, huh?
Posted by: john | Aug 7, 2008 5:46:13 AM
Beginning of the end? Let's hope so. Even if it is good coffee, it is grossly overpriced, like Krispy Kreme donuts and so many other products, the makers of which have met (or are meeting) their end.
Posted by: Steve | Aug 7, 2008 5:47:25 AM
All Starbucks has to do is cut back their prices a bit. I went to Starbucks every single say without fail for years, and then they had two price increases in a row, bringing my frappacino to over $4. I quit cold turkey that day and haven't been back since.
Posted by: Jen724 | Aug 7, 2008 9:14:40 AM
All Starbucks has to do is cut back their prices a bit. I went to Starbucks every single say without fail for years, and then they had two price increases in a row, bringing my frappacino to over $4. I quit cold turkey that day and haven't been back since.
Posted by: Jen724 | Aug 7, 2008 9:14:42 AM
The "Pikes Place" coffee that they are serving now is really terrible...and I never really liked their coffee in the first place! I had to go to one for a business meeting recently, and felt the baristas really over-engaged me in talk at the counter - it seemed forced and a little too much.
Posted by: Lisa | Aug 7, 2008 11:36:52 AM
Starbuck coffee overpriced? Compare the prices to Dunkin' Donuts. The DD black hot water costs more than Starbucks.
$2 for a large coffee at Starbucks vs. $2.60 for a large coffee at DD? No comparison.
I don't buy those foo-foo drinks, so those that combine coffee prices with prices of a double shot skim blahbidy blah need not debate.
Posted by: craig | Aug 7, 2008 12:35:03 PM
Do any of these idiots know that there's a thing called a "thermos"? Get a decent coffee machine and grinder, make some coffee in the morning, and take it with you. This isn't rocket science. Who has the time and money to keep spending $4 per coffee and 15 minutes a day?
Posted by: dmishem | Aug 7, 2008 12:48:05 PM
Post a comment
