X.Feng

The Starbucks Card eGift, which digitally expands its existing card program, has been integrated not just into social media, but even mobile platforms. Anyone can digitally purchase and send Starbucks Cards to friends via Facebook or e-mail, and upon receiving the eGift, recipients will have the option of printing out the personalized card for redemption, transferring the balance to their existing Starbucks Card, or adding the gift as a new card in the Starbucks Card Mobile app.

The e-gifting experience was previously tailored just to Starbuck’s Facebook community as a Facebook app. It really revealed just another way that managers could leverage on social media to reap additional profits. Besides making it more convenient for customers to purchase gift cards, this application allowed business to happen even after closing hours. The entry ticket to reaping such benefits though, was to have a large community or fan base on social media platforms like Facebook. The target audience could be considered to be limited to customers ranked on the higher rungs of the Technographics ladder. Hence to achieve pay-offs significant enough to justify such marketing techniques, this community has to be large enough. However, now that this experience has been expanded to mobile apps, users do not need to have to be a social media user to send or receive eGifts. In fact, an e-mail address was all that was needed to start gifting and receiving. Starbucks integration of e-gift cards into mobile strategies definitely serves to increase the potential of its gift card business. Now, its target customers have been expanded to include even the ‘inactives’. Given that this new avenue could potentially be a very lucrative addition, I foresee that many companies with existing Card Programs may consider additional avenues like these as well.