{"id":11963,"date":"2020-04-19T13:09:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T17:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/brewing-with-a-dash-of-data-and-analytics-starbucks\/"},"modified":"2020-04-19T13:09:35","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T17:09:35","slug":"brewing-with-a-dash-of-data-and-analytics-starbucks","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/brewing-with-a-dash-of-data-and-analytics-starbucks\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewing with a dash of Data and Analytics \u2013 Starbucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starbucks is not short on data. It has over 30,000 stores worldwide and completes close to 100 million transactions per week. The CEO Kevin Johnson spent more than three decades in the tech industry before joining Starbucks (16 years at Microsoft and five as CEO of Juniper Networks). No wonder the company has been at the forefront of applying data and analytics to create and capture value for customers and partners while making its operations efficient. Starbucks had a stellar year in 2019. It was already the third-largest restaurant chain in the world, but even at that size, it managed to add 1,900 locations in fiscal 2019 for 7% unit growth. How?<\/p>\n

The recent success in 2019 is a result of \u201cDeep Brew\u201d \u2013 a set of AI initiatives across the company. Figure below summarizes the implications:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
DeepBrew AI Flywheel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are three main entities where the value is created and captured:<\/p>\n

Operations<\/strong><\/p>\n

New Starbucks Locations are carefully chosen after analyzing reams of data. The A.I. support for store planning models economic factors about a location. These include population, income levels, traffic, competitor presence, and so on. It uses this to forecast revenues, profits, and other aspects of economic performance. Location based analytics using GIS technology are applied in deciding a new location. This allows Starbucks to minimize the effect of cannibalization and ensure that a new store is able to capture the critical mass of customers that flow through certain areas. This careful planning of new outlets stands in stark contrast with competitor Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ:LK), whose store count has more than tripled to 2,963 stores in 2019 versus the prior year in an apparently haphazard attempt to capture as much market share as possible. All this results in an improved sales performance for its products overall.<\/p>\n

Customers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Starbucks Customer Digital Flywheel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For customers, the Digital Flywheel program creates tremendous value and helps the firm in capturing the value. There were almost 19 million loyalty program users in early 2020. Knowing individual customer order preferences and buying patterns allows Starbucks to provide a \u201cradically personalized\u201d and warm experience. Using AI in the Starbucks app or on the drive-thru menu can present customers with thoughtful, personalized choices based on their own preferences, but also on things like weather and time of day. With the explosive popularity of mobile ordering and delivery services, Starbucks is looking at how AI can help baristas make beverages in an order that takes the whole picture into account. For instance, if a store gets a digital order for four iced lattes but the customer is still 10 miles away, baristas might make other drinks first.<\/p>\n

In addition, Starbucks utilized data arising from buying habits across large customer base and across different channels (supermarket data). This gave the firm a strong basis for deciding which products to target the home drinker, and how to dynamically change menu items to delight customers. However, this might over-complicate things and could be tricky to scale.<\/p>\n

Partners<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starbucks average bill is relatively a small amount, and hence maintaining a good customer throughput is critical to a store\u2019s success. If a machine breaks down, it can significantly disrupt operations. Conventional approaches would need partners to collect data about machine parameters, repairs required, and so on. This would eat up their valuable time which could have been spent with customers for better service. AI can help in forecasting failures and maintenance needs. A tangible example of where this technology is being used is through a new range of Mastrena super-automatic espresso machines. The machines are equipped with sensors so every shot of espresso is logged and analysed centrally to assess potential areas for tuning and maintenance. This Internet of Things (IoT) technology is combined with Deep Brew to give a prediction of which machines need maintenance when.<\/p>\n

Deep Brew will further drive Starbucks’ personalization engine, help optimize store labor allocations, and help manage inventory within the stores. These objectives, if achieved, would free up time for staff to actively connect with customers and provide that important personal touch.<\/p>\n

The chain’s mission statement is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit,” and if that’s what customers connect with, then anything the company does to cultivate that makes perfect sense. Deep Brew is a fine example of leveraging AI and Analytics to improve efficiency and provide a more human interaction to create great customer experiences.<\/p>\n

Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the challenges for the brand would be to provide consistent experience at scale across all its stores globally. Cultures differ widely across regions, and some customers may prefer a socially distant experience. The tools and systems might not work as intended due to technology adoption issues. How can they effectively scale the \u201cDeep Brew\u201d outcomes across the world while providing some level of consistency and incorporating the local context? Hopefully, local AI teams can translate the mission into delightful experiences driven by analytics. Starbucks could be the \u201cdata company\u201d that can lead by example across the industry!<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/2019\/12\/04\/starbucks-knows-how-keep-customers-coming-back.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/stories.starbucks.com\/stories\/2020\/how-starbucks-plans-to-use-technology-to-nurture-the-human-spirit\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/2019\/11\/08\/how-starbucks-brewing-up-artificial-intelligence.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/marker.medium.com\/starbucks-isnt-a-coffee-company-its-a-data-technology-business-ddd9b397d83e<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/earnings\/2020\/starbucks-mobile-app-users-now-drive-17-pct-of-sales\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starbucks rides on DeepBrew (AI based tools) to keep operations efficient, free up time for partners, engage customers, and improve sales<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11056,"featured_media":11964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[877,134,285,1031,2764,2763,282],"class_list":["post-11963","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-analytics","category-coffee","category-customer-data-analytics","category-flywheel","category-operational-efficiency","category-starbucks","hck-taxonomy-organization-starbucks","hck-taxonomy-industry-food-and-beverage","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/competing-with-data-and-ai-challenge\/","yoast_head":"\nBrewing with a dash of Data and Analytics \u2013 Starbucks - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/brewing-with-a-dash-of-data-and-analytics-starbucks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brewing with a dash of Data and Analytics \u2013 Starbucks - 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