Crowdsourcing the Next Starbucks Idea

February 1st, 2009 in News, by Head Honcho

Starbucks has become a household name all over the world. The name is readily associated with coffee. But even Starbucks is not immune from dwindling profits amid the economic downturn. A survey shows that Americans appear to be cutting back on their Starbucks. And this has affected Starbucks’ bottom-line: it was recently reported that the company will close 300 cafes globally and could slash up to 6,700 jobs.

That is why it is important for Starbucks to know what the customers want in order to stem the bleeding. Starbucks knows that the most valuable source of information is its very own customers. That is why it has set up a website exclusively dealing with customers and their ideas.

My Starbucks Idea is a website solely devoted to gathering ideas from its customers. As pointed out in the site:

We know you’ve got ideas - big ideas, little ideas, maybe even totally revolutionary ideas - and we want to hear them all. That’s why we created My Starbucks Idea. So you can share the ideas that matter to you and you can find out how we’re putting those ideas to work. Together, we will shape the future of Starbucks.

Setting up My Starbucks Idea is a very smart move on the part of the company. Who better knows what the customers want than the customers themselves? Anyone can register to the site to be able to submit ideas, vote, and comment on others’ ideas. These ideas will then be read by Starbucks employees. They’ll take a combination of the most popular and most innovative ideas that are the best fit for Starbucks and present them to key decision makers within the company to recommend how the company can put those ideas to work.

Various ideas have been submitted to the site. They cover the products being offered, the atmosphere of the stores, and even the company’s social responsibility. Some comments are not at all flattering, which goes on to show that Starbucks is serious about knowing what the customers really want, and that it is serious in satisfying as much customers as possible.

And with the website in place, the good ideas being presented by the customers can truly be turned into action.

Check out the video below to see how My Starbucks Idea works.