Coffee Giant Starbucks Hints at Branded ‘Digital Collectibles’ in New Web 3 Customer Rewards Program

Coffee giant Starbucks is working on a new rewards program that involves branded digital collectibles for caffeine consumers.

During the company’s Q3 earnings call on August 2nd, interim chief executive officer Howard Schultz hints that Starbucks is launching a Web 3-enabled initiative during its 2022 Investor Day event, which is set to happen in Seattle on September 13th.

“We believe this new digital Web 3-enabled initiative will allow us to build on the current Starbucks Rewards engagement model with its powerful spend-to-earn Stars approach while also introducing new methods of emotionally engaging customers, expanding our digital third place community and offering a broader set of rewards, including one-of-a-kind experiences that you can’t get anywhere else, integrating our digital Starbucks Rewards ecosystem with Starbucks-branded digital collectibles as both a reward and a community building element.”

Schultz says that the coffee chain hopes to keep its customers and attract new ones with the new initiative. The executive adds that Starbucks also wants to retain its appeal to the younger generation.

“This will create an entirely new set of digital network effects that will attract new customers and be accretive to existing customers in our core retail stores.”

Schultz’s statement comes following Starbucks’ announcement earlier this year that the company will foray into the non-fungible token (NFT) business before the end of the year.

“We plan to create a series of branded NFT collections, the ownership of which initiates community membership and allows for access to exclusive experiences and perks. The themes of these collections will be born of Starbucks artistic expressions, both heritage and newly created, as well as through world-class collaborations with other innovators and like-minded brands.”

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