Howard Shultz chairman of Starbucks, the most popular coffeehouse chain in America, worth more than 82B USD recently stated that the company is looking into incorporating cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in it's payment technology system.
Shultz is a visionary and a great business, follows worldwide trends and knows how the consumers think and how to leverage that knowledge to increase revenue. He proved that with the huge success of implementing a mobile payment app back in 2015 that allowed customers to pay and order their drinks reducing the hassle of waiting in lines to pay/order a drink. Not only did it improve overall customer experience but it also offered a reward in form of "stars" points for rewarding customers for using the app. Needless to say, the app proved to be a massive success amongst Starbucks customers.
Knowing that, it comes as no surprise that Shultz is planning to add cryptocurrencies payments saying:
We think we have something to offer the companies that are chasing this because we are in a position to create the trusted legitimate place in which this could be accepted and possibly take advantage of the mobile payment digital platform that we have created.
He also added that:
It was necessary for major businesses to adapt their strategies.
It's obvious he sees great potential in cryptocurrencies and sees them as they are (future of payments) and want's to be amongst the first to add crypto payments as he sees the potential benefits they have. Not only to Starbucks, but to customers that get a real world/everyday use for their coins further adding to the worldwide acceptance of cryptocurrency payments and coins in general.
"I believe that we are heading into a new age, in which blockchain technology is going to provide a significant level of a digital currency that is going to have a consumer application."
Shultz said, and added that Starbucks wants to take advantage of the changes.
What cryptocurrency will Starbucks accept hasn't been decided yet but it's not going to be Bitcoin
Obviously, all the problems that go with Bitcoin today makes it unlikely to be used as a payment, as it would cost much more to mone the coins than the actual coffee you are paying for. BTC fees are going as high as 50$, Shultz knows that and he said that Bitcoin is not going to be an option.
What cryptocurrency will be used is still unknown
There are many options to be considered and the decision hasn't yet been made.
IMO Starbucks should consider Steem and SMTs as an option
With lightning fast and no fees transactions Steem or SMTs would be a perfect solution for Starbucks as it:
Can be easily implemented in the current app
Offers it's own token "Star" that can gain value independently of the cryptocurrency market
Customers could get Stars token rewarded to them and earned, further adding to the growth of the company if used in the right way
Starbucks could also make a Steemit account so that customers using Steemit could easily send STEEM/SBD to pay for their drinks
Imagine what effect would it have on Steemit if we actually got Starbucks to add Steem/SBD payments and implementing their own coin in form of a SMT!!
Not sure though, how we would get to Shultz or anyone high enough in Starbucks but,
I hope you see this and take action :)
Or if you can get to
Take action and do everything you can to get this message out. Write posts on Steemit about it, spam Starbucks emails, call them, and do whatever you can. Maybe they eventually get tired of it, decide to take a look into SMTs and actually decide to take action and implement it. That would be huge for Steemit!