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Starbucks' Via Boils Over
Starbucks' Via Boils Over
By Dan Mitchell
Posted Friday, November 13, 2009 - 2:16pm
Are baristas and customers growing annoyed by Starbucks' (SBUX) "hard-sell" tactics for Via, the new instant-coffee product?
Some are, according to BusinessWeek. "This is the most stressful promotion I have ever experienced, and I've been with the company for seven years," a barista wrote on starbucksgossip.com. And a customer wrote: "Please no more high-pressure Via sales pitches. It's annoying ... it's completely out of line with Starbucks' vibe."
Others are posting similar complaints on the company's own mystarbucksidea.com. One customer wrote: "DON'T try the used car salesmen approach on us drip coffee drinkers to order Via when there's a perfectly good pot of brewed coffee sitting behind the barista."
As BusinessWeek notes, Via is too new to gauge its success. But if the company is in fact hard-selling to the point of annoying both customers and employees, it could be a signal of desperation.
On the other hand, nobody goes online to note how not-annoyed they were during their latest visit to Starbucks.
Have you noticed baristas taking a Glengarry approach to selling Via? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
yes...
I worked for a chain bookstore many years ago to supplement my poor journalism income (might have to do that again soon!). I think it was a Waldenbooks. Anyway, we were expected to sell memberships like those at B&N now. And I did -- and I was quite good at it, with the best results of all the store's employees. But, first, it wasn't just another product I was selling, but a service, and one that I genuinely believed was a good deal for the customers. And second, if there were more than two or three people in line, I didn't even mention it for just that reason -- it would slow down the line and piss off the other customers.
SBUX
I worked for Starbucks for 5 1/2 years as a shift supervisor and I agree with the barista's comments. I always beleived that customers were opposed to a confrontation at the counter that equates to a door to door salesman giving you his sales pitch that you neither respond to nor appreciate. There are a few reasons. 1. It slows down the line. The customers in line don't appreciate the delay. 2. It complicates the transaction for the barista and can interfere with order accuracy and real interaction with the customer, in turn decreasing overall customer satisfaction. 3. Baristas hate it. Of course, we all have parts of our jobs that we don't like but pitching upgrades a dollar at a time is draining. Let's face it, coffee customers are becoming a less and less captive audience. There are other options all over. I think everyone's a little tired of being squeezed.