Why Starbucks Partnered With Polygon For Their NFT Program

Starbucks will work with the Ethereum second layer resolution Polygon on their non-fungible token (NFT) loyalty program, referred to as “Odyssey”. Introduced over 5 months in the past, the initiative coincides with the return of the corporate’s founder Howard Schultz as CEO and with in-house points.

Thus, “Starbucks Odyssey” is intention at offering clients with a brand new expertise and probably mitigating a few of these inner issues. In response to a report from Techcrunch, the corporate’s Starbucks Rewards Loyalty program will likely be prolonged with an NFT market constructed on prime of this blockchain platform.

In that method, clients may have entry to unique digital property that may present them with extra rewards. The report claims that Starbucks has buyers an early look into its Polygon-based new loyalty program claiming it would complement the present reward mannequin which has seen lots of success.

The standard program permits Starbucks clients to prime it with a sure amount of cash and pay for his or her drinks with entry to free drinks and free WiFi. This program was launched in 2008 and was overhauled in 2010 with the launch of the corporate’s cell app.

As seen within the picture under, offered by Alex Johnson, this system awarded clients with factors, gave folks a simple method to embody and retailer cost strategies, and preload their playing cards with cash to “save them time”. The brand new NFT program is aimed toward pushing past these boundaries.

Starbucks Embraces The Polygon Blockchain

In response to the report, the corporate appointed Adam Brotman, the creator of their Cell Order and Pay System and the 2010 cell app, as a particular advisor. Brotman is working with a number of Starbucks groups specialised in advertising and marketing, loyalty, and know-how.

Brady Brewer, CMO at Starbucks, instructed TechCrunch that the corporate has been planning this initiative for a minimum of six months. The corporate has been quick at accepting technological innovation, notably associated to cryptocurrency and digital property.

As Bitcoinist reported in 2019, Starbucks was one of many first firms to enter a partnership with crypto exchanges, equivalent to Bakkt, and with the New York Inventory Change (NYSE) to create a worldwide digital asset platform. Up till this level, the corporate’s fundamental focus was funds.

Brewer claims their funding in NFTs is a part of a method to reinforce its enterprise mannequin and progress its current loyalty program. As well as, the corporate government emphasised on the potential for Polygon NFTs to foster communities and provides them entry to unique merchandise.

Nonetheless, the corporate received’t promote using blockchain know-how in its loyalty program. Brewer mentioned:

It occurs to be constructed on blockchain and web3 applied sciences, however the buyer — to be trustworthy — could very properly not even know that what they’re doing is interacting with blockchain know-how. It’s simply the enabler.

Why Is This Polygon Partnership Essential For The Starbucks Loyalty Program?

To be able to entry the Polygon NFT platform, Starbucks customers might want to log in to the net app with their present loyalty program credentials, the report claims. Therein, customers may have entry to sure actions that after accomplished will permit them to earn digital property dubbed “journey stamps”.

NFTs have been extensively adopted by many legacy industries, however folks have been reluctant to embrace them as a result of allege ecological considerations. Thus, Starbucks appears to be introducing the know-how with out explicitly informing its customers in order to keep away from any potential backlash.

The brand new NFT loyalty program will likely be launching later this 12 months, Starbucks is but to disclose the price of their digital property and different key particulars concerning the platform. On how NFT will assist the corporate rework its in style loyalty program, Brewer added:

There will likely be lots of methods for folks to earn (rewards) with out having to spend some huge cash. We wish to make this tremendous simple and accessible. There will likely be loads of on a regular basis experiences clients can earn like digital courses or entry to restricted version merchandise, as an example. The vary of experiences will likely be fairly huge and really accessible