So Starbucks’announcement of their new $1 reusable tumbler a few weeks ago was welcome news.
In an effort to decrease the over-consumption of paper cups (their publicized
goal is to serve 5% of all beverages in such tumblers by 2015)
they’ve lowered the barrier for consumers to do their own part. The initial barrier, I should say. [Pause to
caveat that I am all for “the journey” concept, and know that change often happens
as a result of baby steps.] That said, this is a notable first step in the
right direction, but it’s impossible for me to not address the larger, more
looming challenges that this goal will ultimately face.
The conversation
of consumer behavior change – in particularly within the environmental space –
is a common one amongst colleagues at Recyclebank. So, naturally, Starbucks’ strategy
to incentivize change was a hot topic. While we all agree they get a gold star
for phase 1: accessibility (make it easier for people to own the reusable cup
by making it virtually free), phases 2, 3, 4+ will certainly be more
challenging. Because what they’re actually endeavoring to do is change the
morning habits of their customers.
If you’re an
every-morning coffee drinker as I am myself, remembering to bring your reusable
mug each day is not easy feat. Cleaning it after you finish so it’s ready to go
the next morning, bringing it home from the office, packing it in your bag on
your way out the door…there are so many moments for this ritual to get thrown
off track (you have back-to-back meetings and it never gets washed, you run to
the gym after work and leave it in your locker, you’re carrying 5 things as you
hustle out of the apt and you don’t have an extra set of hands…)
So how does a
company like Starbucks address all these hurdles that are inevitably going to
prevent even the people that have the reusable tumbler from bringing it in with
them? I’m sure there are many ideas. And most of them aren’t necessarily easy
to implement (if behavior change were a walk in the park, we’d live on a
pristine planet absent of drug addicts and full to the brim of annoying
do-gooders). One thing Starbucks does have going for it, though, is its preexisting
loyalty program. So if Howard Shultz were to ask me, I’d say hitch the tumbler
idea to the loyalty program. And enhance both.
There are traces
of the loyalty program baked in to the tumbler concept already: $0.10 off each
purchase when you have the mug with you. But that’s not unique to Starbucks –
my local shop does the same thing. While monetary incentives to work, I think
there are more experiential things that could be done here. Starbucks is, after
all, a brand with many, many loyal followers and people willing to take their
actions as the trend-setting movement of the week, month, year. So leverage
that.
- Up the customer service. If you have a mug that you drink in the shop, the baristas will wash it for you for free (so that it’s clean and ready to go again for tomorrow).
- Make the tumblers represent a community. Like the tiered structure of the loyalty card, upgrade people’s mugs after a certain number of purchases. If you strut in with a gold mug, you’re clearly in the upper echelon of coffee aficionados. And the guy in line next to you with a gold mug is, too. You’re on the same level and experience a degree of unspoken connection. In the best case scenario, it’s even a conversation starter. And that cute guy you see three days a week finally has an excuse to ask you on a date… (I digress).
- Tap into corporate relationships. Set up “employee tumbler” programs, which make it easy to use, clean, and reuse mugs in the office.
I wish Starbucks
the best of luck on their journey towards achieving sustainable consumer
behavior change and realizing a company that produces less waste. I think of a
lot of the big players out there they are uniquely positioned to have some
success at it. So I’ll continue to watch and weigh in. And, on a personal
level, meet their efforts with my own re-commitment to bring that reusable mug
in every morning (it’s not going to be easy…)
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