Introduction
It is worth noting that, for several years, Starbucks has been one of the leaders in the industry in terms of mobile marketing and commerce. The company managed to find a successful and effective tool to attract new customers and retain their loyal audience, which brought them not only income but also traffic to the coffee shops. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what other companies can emulate from Starbucks and specify what it can do better in regards to the current mobile marketing efforts.
Discussion
Importantly, the company’s mobile marketing centers on the loyalty program, which ensures customers get various bonuses and benefits (Bidgoli 189). When clients spend money in coffee shops, they get stars that they can later use for receiving free goods. Customers, who use the app, also get a free drink for their birthday. When users collect enough stars during the game offered by Starbucks, they can unlock new levels with free goods, bonus programs, personalized offers and so on. Therefore, the mobile app not only provides clients with benefits but also serves as an entertainment tool, which pushes them to visit coffee shops more often and boosts loyalty (Bidgoli 190). Therefore, the first aspect that other companies can emulate is building customer loyalty through rewarding user experience.
Apart from that, enterprises should consider introducing a built-in payment system similar to the one that Starbucks offers its clients. In particular, in the US, more than 23 million people used the system last year, which meant significantly greater incomes for the company (Richter). Therefore, organizations should consider Square payments, which is the method currently employed by Starbucks, to offer their customers a new client-side solution.
Moreover, another feature other companies can emulate is augmented reality. Currently, customers of Starbucks can engage in a coffee-making process or try some other tricks using the app while waiting for their order. This is a great source of entertainment for clients, which brings customer care at coffee shops to a new level (Bidgoli 185). Also, other strengths of the company’s mobile strategy are quick searching for coffee shops nearby based on the user’s location, ordering through an application, and choosing a suitable shop to pick the order.
The app also offers quick access to information regarding the duration of order execution. In addition, the loyalty program provides users with the possibility to check the balance of the bonus account in real time. These features are easier to implement rather than virtual reality or payment system; therefore, companies could consider emulating these mobile marketing strategies first.
There are quite a few aspects that Starbucks could improve regarding their mobile marketing efforts. In particular, it needs to provide customers with information on the average waiting time for order preparation and facilitate the payment process using Apple Pay (Bidgoli 193). Also, at the moment, the mobile application does not provide information about the staff of a particular coffee shop. However, most importantly, the enterprise could minimize the need to purchase a physical loyalty card in order to initiate the payment process through the app.
Concluding Points
Thus, it can be concluded that the mobile marketing strategy employed by Starbucks turned out to be effective since it allowed attracting new customers while also retaining loyal clients through improved user experience. Other companies could consider introducing a built-in payment system and virtual reality feature as client-side solutions. Nevertheless, Starbucks also has issues that require improvement, which are related to order delivery and payment via the app.
Works Cited
Bidgoli, Hossein. MIS: Management Information Systems. 8th ed., Cengage Learning, 2017.
Richter, Felix. “Starbucks Brings Mobile Payment to the Masses.” Statista, 2018. Web.