Author – Breakthrough Retailing, How a bleeding orange culture can change everything!
January 4, 2025
THE STORY: Our family of 6 people were on our way to the Denver airport and decided that we had time for some coffee and pastry at Starbucks in Idaho Springs, Colorado.
THE SITUATION: Upon entering the store, we observed about 15 people in line waiting to place their orders , so we went to the Starbucks app and placed our order for all six of us. It all went downhill from there.
THE ALTERNATIVE: The Starbucks app initially quoted a 15 minute wait which was OK for us. But – upon hitting the ‘Buy’ button the time immediately changed to 45 minutes. This would not work – we needed to arrive at the airport on time for our flight.
THE DISSAPOINTMENT: So, we waited and finally got to the front of the line and asked if we could cancel our online order and get our order faster by ordering in person. The lady behind the counter said it did not matter how we placed our order the wait time would be minimum of 45 minutes – and besides that she had no way to cancel our online order. She was overworked and, frankly did not give a damn. The customer in line before us was having the same problem and this poor clerk was at her wits end. We refused to leave the line until we received a better answer. So, after checking with the manager, we were told to call 1-800-Starbucks. We left the store, with no food or coffee, and began driving to the airport while calling the Starbucks phone number.
THE IRONY: The Starbuck call center advised us that they could issue a refund but could not cancel the order! That solved our immediate refund problem but probably left a lot of food and drinks sitting on the pick-up counter at Starbucks Idaho Springs! – No system intergration!
THE SOLUTION: We stopped at a Winchell’s Donuts Shop in Denver. The service was quick, the food and coffee tasty, and all for about one third the price at Starbucks. And yes, we made the plane on time.
THE REAL STORY: Howard Schultz was the visionary that created Starbucks and made it great. He discovered the original four Starbucks stores in 1981 and realized Starbucks had a great product. But you can buy coffee just about anywhere. According to Starbucks, Schultz traveled to Italy and “became captivated with Italian coffee bars and the romance of the coffee experience. He had a vision to bring the Italian coffeehouse tradition to America. He wanted to create a place for human connection, conversation and one that fostered a sense of community – a third place between work and home”.
HERE IS THE POINT – The secret of Starbucks was the gestalt of a great product combined with a unique ambiance. Howard Shultz passed the CEO position on to other CEO’s who didn’t understand that it was the ambiance that created the ‘UNIQUE, SUSTAINBLE, COMPELLING, COMPETITIVE ADANTAGE’. They just focused on more and more products without understanding the vision of the founder or the motivation of the customer. Starbucks sales in the U.S. were negative last year, particularly in the most recent quarter – There is a lesson here for all retailers!