Original post: January 22, 2016 | GoogleScholar | Academia.edu

Starbucks CX Point-of-Sale Blooper: Intro

Even if you are not in love with Starbucks coffee or with its customer experience model, chances are that you go to Starbucks every now and then – to use the free internet, to buy a bottle of water, or just because your friends decided to meet there before going to a concert. What can go wrong at a Starbucks in terms of customer experience? Or for that matter, how could you improve Starbucks point-of-sale systems to improve its overall CX? The problem at hand is this: it is odd that every time you order a frozen Starbucks item such as a sandwich or a wrap or quiche, the main way to find out if what you want is in stock is to get the clerk to yell across the room to ask someone else or to leave the register, walk over to the refrigerator, open the door, let some warm air inside, dig through several shelves of items to see if your item is physically present and, finally, come back and complete the order. Funny?! How does this affect Starbucks customer experience? And how will Startbucks need to change this if it is serious about selling you a great lunch or dinner? And for that matter, is Starbucks really competing with Mickey D’s for your burger dollars? And, CX aside, can we financially justify making tweaks to Starbucks point-of-sale systems to improve inventory tracking? Let’s talk about these fun things.