Starbucks had its quarterly earnings reports on Tuesday and as part of this event, the coffee company announced its plans. This plan involves the application of blockchain technology i.e NFT in creating an exclusive community of customers.
Starbucks trying to extend its third place concept via NFTs
With this plan, Starbucks is seeking to expand its “Third Place” concept — a place between home and work — to the digital world. Thus, customers can purchase unique NFTs from Starbucks. And this purchase will give them special access to Starbucks-related experiences and perks.
According to a blog post by the coffee maker:
What if Starbucks could create a new, global digital community – a community defined by collaboration, experiences, and shared ownership – all centered around coffee to start, and then perhaps expanded into the many of the areas Starbucks has played in over the years as a coffeehouse; art, music, books and beyond?
The company said this is a natural follow to its other tech-fueled initiatives such as mobile ordering, in-store WiFi, and the Starbucks Rewards program.
The new NFT related platform known as “Starbucks Digital Community Web3.” Will launch later this year.
According to Starbucks Chief Marketing Officer Brady Brewer. “This community will further strengthen the Starbucks brand, engage our partners, and we expect it to be accretive to our business,”
Furthermore, he added that Starbucks is “making deliberate choices to build the community on environmentally sustainable Web3 platforms.”
Starbucks’ treasure trove of assets makes it a viable NFT creator
Schultz noted Starbuck’s unique position to create NFTs in Tuesday’s meeting. “If you look at the companies, the brands, the celebrities, the influencers that are trying to create a digital NFT platform and business, I can’t find one of them that has the treasure trove of assets that Starbucks has, from collectibles to the entire heritage of the company,” he said.
Other consumer brands like Starbuck are foraying into the NFT world. This is despite The Wall Street Journal‘s report indicating that the NFT market is caving in. According to the report the average sales fell 92% this week from a peak in September 2022.
Starbucks has more than 30,000 stores and employs more than 400,000 people. The company is facing a growing unionization movement.