This continues a new category of posts focused on Innovative Uses of Technology for Business Benefit. As I wrote in The Giant Crunching Sound, CIOs are crunching incumbent, utility technology spend and freeing up dollars for innovations.
Starbuck's HQ in Seattle and proximity to Microsoft and amazon.com must help, but I am impressed at the number of technology innovations they have taken advantage of over the years to keep up with all the product innovation their stores showcase.
The most visible, of course, is the availability of WI-FI in most of their stores. What is impressive is how far back it made its decision to do an aggressive roll out. Has it helped revenues? Numbers are hard to come by - though this post would suggest mom-and-pop coffee shops are also under pressure to offer similar services and the number of providers have grown significantly. Using my personal sample size of one - I looked up my T-Mobile Hotspot usage and in the last 9 months I accessed their network over 30 times at Starbucks in different cities. I am a one-coffee-cup-a-day person and probably would not have stopped at Starbucks without the WI-FI.
It fits in with Howard Schultz, the Chairman's vision of Starbucks as the Third Place (the home and work being the other two) where you spend much of your time. And if you do spend time there, you invite friends, colleagues, you try teas, pastries, maybe linger for your second or third cup - traffic and business increases. McDonald's has the same vision - but its "store of the future" is still in concept mode. Starbucks has a few years lead over every other chain. Another payback from the WI-FI network - the employee base in the retail chain is "connected".
Not just coffee or snacks - it allows Starbucks to diversify in to other product areas. Starbucks is now offering music downloads at its locations and by extension its music collection through an XM channel. Some day you may be able to order your favorite Grisham book custom printed while you enjoy the java.
Then there was the decision to roll out its prepaid/debit card in 2003 to migrate an already loyal, frequent customer base. Also, the use of RFID not just to track shipments but to validate supplier employees making deliveries at its stores.
None of this is "break the company" stuff - the technology is relatively well tested and Starbucks has partnered well for most deployments with the likes of HP and Bank One. It is, however, so well aligned with the company's overall innovation culture...
