Starbucks expands its longtime partnership with Apple by launching a free music and book download service for the UK customers. Now the chain’s customers have an opportunity to select one music track or one iBook to download from iTunes through its ‘Pick of the Week’ initiative.
Starbucks
In just two weeks, Starbucks has launched three initiatives, aimed at providing support to local citizens and businesses—two in the U.S. last week, and one yesterday in Japan. The international coffee retailer announced the establishment of the Starbucks CUP Fund (Caring Unites Partners) in Japan, created to help affected partners and employees in the country’s recover after the natural disaster, which shook the country on March 11. According to the press release, CUP will provide partners in need with “cash grants based on their needs and situation.”
Starbucks proves its commitment to communities and after introducing the ‘Create jobs for USA’ initiative, it presents a new community model in the neighborhoods of Harlem, New York and Crenshaw, Los Angeles. These organizations will share in the profits of a store in each community. Each organization will receive a minimum of $100,000 from Starbucks for the first year of the partnership.
The number of American companies supporting small businesses in their country is growing—Facebook, American Express, Google and Dell to name but a few are now joined by Starbucks, which has teamed up with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to launch Create Jobs for USA, an initiative that encourages consumers to donate money, which will be used to strengthen community business nationwide.
Starbucks wants its coffee to be available in all countries of the world, to all people, but this requires not only opening new chain stores, but also offering equal purchasing opportunities to all customers. For visually impaired consumers, the coffee giant has released its Fall 2011 card featuring the word ‘Starbucks’ in Braille, which is now available in participating Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada for a limited time and can be also purchased online at StarbucksStore.com while supplies last.
To celebrate its 40th birthday, Starbucks has presented a new commemorative coffee blend dubbed Tribute Blend, launched the multi-platform promotional campaign, released ‘Onward’ book telling the brand’s story and even updated its green siren logo. All these new additions were warmly welcomed by the public, now the brand adds apparel to the list of the anniversary-related merchandize, hoping to continue the success. The coffee giant teamed up with designers Alexander Wang, Sophie Theallet, and Billy Reid, the recipients of the past three annual CFDA/VOGUE FASHION FUND awards, to develop a line of signature limited edition T-shirts, which represent the brand’s vision and spirit and pay tribute to Starbucks ongoing commitment to help deprived communities in developing countries, contribute to ecological initiatives and provide people around the globe with best-quality coffee.
Starbucks has launched an updated, redesigned version of www.StarbucksStore.com online destination to provide its consumers with the enhanced shopping experience and make it easier and quicker to find the best coffee, teas and merchandise offerings. In addition to the traditional coffee&tea range, the digital venue, which was developed with by PFSweb, Inc. (a global e-commerce solution provider), offers a number of extra services like subscription, tasting tours and prepaid gift cards across the U.S. territories.