Like many brick and mortar businesses, Starbucks seems to be struggling with new media – specifically, how to treat WiFi. Is it a cost center? A profit center? A way to retain customers? A way to fill seats without monetizing them? The results are decidedly mixed. If the WiFi experience for coffee shops was a Magic 8 Ball, it would report “ANSWER HAZY…TRY AGAIN LATER.” But with any endeavor that involves customers, it’s a rule of thumb to keep things consistent. Nothing ticks off customers more than finding a situation where you pay for something at store A, and find it for free at store B – especially when the two stores are selling under the same corporate entity. Which is what makes a generally marketing-savvy company like Starbucks’ latest moves all the more puzzling.

Starbucks began life as a small chain of coffee shops founded on the principle that consumers would pay extra for a better cup of coffee. As it turns out, a LOT more. It worked. The company created an experiential mystique that enabled them to justify paying outrageous amounts of money for a cuppa joe. (This is a quantitatively provable, as blind taste tests have repeatedly shown that grocery store Folgers beats Starbucks coffee on taste. It’s the perception that Starbucks java is better that let’s them charge out the wazoo.) As a way to keep buns in seats, Starbucks began offering WiFi access. After some experimentation, Starbucks settled on a WiFi provider, and a standardized pricing structure. Another effort to make Starbucks Uber Alles was to put cafes in other retailers, such as Barnes & Noble Booksellers locations. It’s a nice fit – books and coffee. Recently, Starbucks and B&N announced a new policy, offering WiFi access at no charge within every B&N location.

In Shreveport, there’s a Barnes & Noble almost directly across the street (Youree Drive) from a freestanding Starbucks store. You can argue that the ambience is different at the two stores – the freestanding store has a few stuffed chairs, while you have to walk out of the Starbucks and into the B&N store area in order to find a comfortable chair. And of course, the B&N Starbucks has a virtually limitless supply of books and magazines. And free WiFi.

I learned of the WiFi policy disconnect today, when I took my dad to the freestanding Starbucks in search of some java and a change of scenery. It was then that I learned that WiFi access is not free at Starbucks. Well…not at that Starbucks. The one directly across the street has all the free WiFi you can eat, and books to boot.

The net effect is that the freestanding Starbucks has lost a customer, for I value the ability to get online as much as I treasure my beverage du jour. If I can get one for free, I’m gonna beat a path to their door, leaving the freestanding Starbucks one or two customers the poorer. The whole experience makes me wonder, just how long it will take Starbucks to realize how many customers they are alienating by charging for something in Store A, that they are willing to give away in Store B.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 5:41 pm and is filed under marketing, media.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.