Starbucks has finally introduced My Starbucks Rewards in the UK and Ireland after launching it in the USA and Canada. Now, British consumers can get rewards by spending money loaded on their registered Starbucks cards, no matter what and when they buy in the chain’s stores. The new service kicked off yesterday, January 5, providing more Starbucks coffee drinkers with an opportunity to receive benefits by collecting stars with purchases they make using their Starbucks Cards.
The Starbucks UK reward scheme is sure to be appreciated both by those who have just started to use Starbucks Cards and those who are registered Card Holders for quite a long time. The rules are different from those introduced in the U.S.: there is no Welcome Level (the scheme starts with the Green Level), and loyal Starbucks Card holders can skip to the Gold Level right away. Learn more about the UK loyalty scheme here. “For new customers joining My Starbucks Rewards, they will begin on Green Level which means they can enjoy a free Tall sized drink for every 15 stars they collect. Then when customers have collected 50 stars, they will move up to Gold Level and get free extras as well. To recognize the customers who have been registered Card Holders for a while, we have made them Gold Level straight away. This means they’ll keep enjoying free espresso shots, syrups, whipped cream and soy and now will also receive a free drink for every 15 stars they collect,” says Sam Bishop, loyalty & reward manager at Starbucks, UK, in the post on theofficial Starbucks website.
To manage a Starbucks Card, consumers can use the iPhone Starbucks App, which synchronizes their account with their iPhone, allows check the balance and pay for the purchased drinks by scanning the code at the till, but still Starbucks customers can’t pre-order or specify the drinks using the app. The Andriod version of the app is coming soon as well. Consumers can pay using the app in more than 600 Starbucks stores in the UK stores starting yesterday.
“Customers are looking for extra value. This scheme allows us to be more personal, rewarding the most frequent customers with extra benefits. We also know that fewer customers want to use cash, so putting My Starbucks Reward on mobiles offers a faster, easier way to pay,” commented Ian Cranna, Vice-President of Marketing for Starbucks UK.