Real World Case 4 Starbucks and Others

1. Do you agree with the plans by Starbucks to offer time-limited free Wi-Fi to customers? Do you think free Wi-Fi would be enough to instill that kind of loyalty? Based on the experience of the other coffee houses reported above, do you think free access was a critical factor in developing a loyal customer base?

Starbucks is a high end coffee shop that is found all over the world, and provides customers with good quality coffee and service. Many Starbucks are found to be in nicer of neighborhoods. I believe that with the great reputation of Starbucks has placed on the world; they should offer free Wi-Fi to customers for a limited time. Free Wi-Fi is something that is expected by customers in a coffee house, so I think Starbucks needs to keep up with the competition. I believe that the plan to only offer a limited time offer of free Wi-Fi is a brilliant idea. I think this is a great idea because most of the clientele is business people, and is another place for people to get their work done. Starbucks can be competitive because they can offer these business people with a secure internet source. An all free Wi-Fi could make risks for the users for giving away private information and business information to hackers.

I don’t think free Wi-Fi would be enough to instill a type of loyalty that Starbucks is looking for. I believe they would want to keep their high end reputation and offer a more protected service to a customer. A twenty dollar fee is a lot cheaper than giving away information to hackers that could cost your business a large sum. I think that businesses that give away free Wi-Fi can often attract lower class customers or freeloaders, while a charge that Starbucks is going to give will weed out those types of customers and bring in a more business environment. Starbucks is a higher quality coffee house that attracts customers who are willing to pay more for quality, so I believe they would also be willing to pay for Wi-Fi.

2. Part of the reason for...