Starbucks Finally Realizies That Free WiFi Is The Way To Go
from the took-'em-long-enough dept
Way back in 2003, we explained why fee-based WiFi almost certainly did not make sense for coffee shops like Starbucks. A year later, we had a discussion on how the program could be a lot more successful if it went free. But, for years, Starbucks insisted that the paid WiFi was a success. Except, if you watched, it gradually got more and more "like free." And that's because few people were actually using the paid version. And, now, finally, after all of these years, Starbucks is finally going to completely free WiFi. It's finally admitting that WiFi was always a complementary service to get more people to buy its high margin goods -- rather than a product itself.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
As long as you were buying their coffee, sure. Well, I can see their point. But they sure didn't engender me the time I sat down at one of their tables with another house's coffee for a quick rest. Seriously, there were lots of tables empty that day...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/BJu7AQDhC9E/Starbucks-Frees-Wi-Fi
None of this was covered in the wired article, though.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
free?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Free Wifi
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Let's talk about ROI
Adding Wi-Fi to a restaurant costs $50/month. Tops.
Second. Return.
Happy customers spend more.
How may customers do you need to spend more to get a great ROI?
Not many.
P.S. I ding restaurants 1 star on Yelp if they lack free Wi-Fi. With AT&T's caps on data over 3G, free Wi-Fi is muy importante.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Let's talk about ROI
Totally not true. A business supplying WiFi to its customers is normally required to get business-class broadband, which costs significantly more than $50 a month. Some of them *may* be using residential class, but they are not supposed to, and it's only a matter of time before they are forced to go Business class.
Also, Starbucks stores use dedicated T1s. Way more than $50 a month.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Read between the lines
Let's think about this:
Laptop $400
Wifi Adapter $60 a month
Meeting your dream date over a strawberry frappucino - Priceless
--------------------------------------
Glad Starbucks finally caught on. :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
yet a coffee shop paying a similar amount to play live music to attract customers is bad?
"it's finally admitting that music was always a complementary service to get more people to buy its high margin goods "
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Coffee shops with WiFi creates customers for...the coffee shops.
See the difference, or do you want it spelled out more simply?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Coffee Shops should pay for WiFi, because ISPs won't get added customers from free WiFi services.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Each purchase gets you 30 minutes Wi-Fi
Fair's got absolutely zilch to do with it. Once the equipment is installed, the marginal cost of an extra unit of Wi-Fi service is zero. Therefore, the optimal hourly price of Wi-Fi in the store is also zero.
Consumers still value it, enabling you to charge more than you would others be able to.
As for music, musicians may want to pay coffee shops for playing their music if coffee shops agree to tell customers whose music is being broadcast.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Each purchase gets you 30 minutes Wi-Fi
That was supposed to be enabling you to charge more than you would otherwise be able to.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Non-free is a worse deal for SB
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Non-free is a worse deal for SB
But it's the risk you take, and you have to figure out ways to deal with it. You are worse off with no wifi, or no free wifi at all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Starbucks
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
McDonalds
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Starbucks coffee is horrible...
What does this have to do with the article? Nothing, but I feel better getting that off my chest.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Starbucks coffee is horrible...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is like: Dont get free net from this guy, get it from that company! (so we can monitor you!)
And stupid ppl think this is a win... fricking lose!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A need for WiFi privacy now more then ever...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
wi fi starbucks
[ link to this | view in chronology ]