Following the launch of its mobile order and pay system, Starbucks have set out to improve customer experiences even further by teaming up with music streaming site, Spotify.
It was revealed that a large proportion of Starbucks customers not only choose them for their coffee but also the experience that comes along with enjoying a coffee, from the environment, to the music and the décor. This new partnership with Spotify aims to enhance the experience of customers visiting stores by providing them with playlists of songs that are actually used inside Starbucks itself. These playlists will be curated using an in-store music programming tool provided by Spotify and, similar to the mobile order and pay system, will be available to Starbucks customers via the Starbucks Mobile App.
Starbucks was once seen by the music industry as a great hope for selling CDs, with a selection offered on racks as customers waited for their coffees. They have since shifted their efforts in line with their customers’ expectations, leading them to being the first coffee-chain to provide music streaming which can be chosen exclusively by their customers.
The partnerships also marks the first time that Starbucks will link its loyalty program to a third party. Spotify users will be offered the chance to earn “stars” that go towards free coffees and snacks at the coffee chain if they sign up to the Spotify premium service.
“We are reinventing the way our millions of global customers discover music,” Howard Schultz, the chairman
and chief executive officer of Starbucks, said in a statement.
Starbucks’ Adam Brotman believes the chain has left competitors behind when it comes to offering well-connected multichannel customer experiences. “I truly believe that no other retailer is as far along as Starbucks in terms of building an end-to-end digital customer experience across a variety of digital touch points both in-store and out of store, across channels, and now across geographies.”
numero believe Starbucks may prove to be the leading force in the drive to incorporate mobile into in-store experiences, implementing their mobile payments system and announcing its new Spotify partnership. Beyond providing a more convenient system of payments, Starbucks is using mobile as a key way to connect with its customers, proving that customer experience is a key priority when it comes to consumer satisfaction.
