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.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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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...
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http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/BJu7AQDhC9E/Starbucks-Frees-Wi-Fi
None of this was covered in the wired article, though.
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free?
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Free Wifi
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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.
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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.
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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
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Glad Starbucks finally caught on. :)
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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 "
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Coffee shops with WiFi creates customers for...the coffee shops.
See the difference, or do you want it spelled out more simply?
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Coffee Shops should pay for WiFi, because ISPs won't get added customers from free WiFi services.
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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.
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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.
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Non-free is a worse deal for SB
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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.
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Starbucks
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McDonalds
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Starbucks coffee is horrible...
What does this have to do with the article? Nothing, but I feel better getting that off my chest.
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Re: Starbucks coffee is horrible...
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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!
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A need for WiFi privacy now more then ever...
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wi fi starbucks
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