Several weeks ago, I introduced the up and coming idea, and great possibility, of mobile marketing. The idea of using phone not only for your personal banking, but also for general transactions is becoming more and more popular, and Starbucks is quickly catching on.
"In February, the company rolled out mobile payment functionality to all of its 6,800 company-operated US stores. The program allows customers to pay by waving their iPhone or Blackberry under the barista's scanner, which reads a barcode in the Starbucks app connected to the individual's preloaded Starbucks card.
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Also late month, Starbucks made it easy to distribute gift cards through the internet. Now, customers can give their friends and family Starbucks gift cards through e-cards! Starbucks is also using Facebook to advertise and reach their customer base. Howard Shultz, the CEO of the company, applauded the marketing department of the company, saying that they were innovative, and cost-efficient in their promotional ideas, and that they were successful in expanding their marketing and finding new ways to become more competitive in their industry. The company feels that they are coming back strong, thanks especially to their active involvement with social media. They believe it has been a great help in improving their relationship with their customers.
In December of 2009, Starbucks revised their reward plan into a three-tier loyalty program that lets customers advance the more they used their card. "It has added 2.5 million loyalty members since its launch and there are 1 million Starbucks customers who have reached the gold-level status (using a registered card 30 times within a year).
" As you can see- Starbucks has been very conscious of the way their advertise their products and promote them. Social networking for companies today can be extremely beneficial. Are there any disadvantages to introducing all of this digital media and new technology into a company such as Starbucks? Should they have spread out their introductions to e-cards and mobile payment methods, or is it appropriate that they install them one right after the other?
http://www.dmnews.com/bracing-pace-for-starbucks-cmo/article/197203/
Very interesting promotions by Starbucks. You raise good questions, too, about their timing. Since these were new ideas, perhaps they wanted to be the first to use them. In that case, it's hard to wait.
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