Delivery is a good idea, especially to offices and workplaces. However, delivering drinks quickly and while still hot might be a challenge.

Though the biggest potential problem is coping with the additional orders. Traffic to Starbucks stores might be slowing but wait times are often poor, especially during peak periods. Starbucks has to find a way of managing increased volume without damaging customer service.

“We were very thoughtful about this.” Oh come on Starbucks. I’m sorry, but when I can get “Starbucks Coffee” beans at Costco (and IMHO there is better and cheaper coffee) and have a whole fresh hot pot of it at a fraction of the cost in my own home…why on earth would I want someone to drive it to my house at even greater cost, throwing away all the packaging an hour later, and all for one cup? This country has gone mad!

Is it the normal $2.50 delivery fee? I can tell you there are plenty of folks in my generation (in cities) that order Uber Eats or Grubhub from food outlets that are a stone’s throw from their condo or apartment. I’m curious to know the delivery fee (Uber Eats standard $2.50-$3.50?), but I don’t see coffee being any different pending the product arriving in the optimum condition.

Starbucks must do this to stay relevant to the way that shopping is going. More online buying, more virtual working, less foot traffic to come in off the street. I’m sure this will be more than just delivering coffee and will include food. Morning meetings, Friday morning treats for the office, friends coming over for brunch — I think this is a nice extension of Starbucks “life.”

Starbucks delivery is a push. It might work for the non-coffee items it sells but I can’t see paying delivery fees as a consumer to get a cup of coffee. Pizza, hamburgers, fried chicken, Chinese? Yes! Coffee? No!

Customer may want Starbucks to deliver their coffee, but unless they have found a way to keep it hot the customer will not be happy with what they receive. No cup on the market today will keep coffee hot for 30 minutes. To keep coffee drinkably hot you would need to have it in a thermos type of container such as a Contigo or other brand.

I have not seen, nor am I ever likely to see, the container referenced in the article but having been in the c-store industry as a retailer and now as a consultant I can tell you people are very particular about the hand and mouth feel of their coffee cups. I see the announcement as a way to for Starbucks to say “hey we deliver too,” but I don’t see it having any significant impact on their sales.

A cup of Starbucks delivered at home? At the office? Out of occasional desperation, possibly. It seems wasteful for both humans and the environment. Not to mention constant Starbucks price increases.

I’m sitting at Starbucks right now. After reading the discussion topic, I am thinking why would anyone want Starbucks delivery? I am a really big coffee drinker (maybe a dozen or more cups a day). I am a really big Starbucks fan and I like their coffee. But, delivery?

As several of my colleagues pointed out, If I want coffee at home I can make excellent coffee. Get it immediately. And have it at a much lower cost.

I go to Starbucks to be in the store. To sit, relax, and spend time on RetailWire. I watch others come in and get their coffee on their way to work or to get out of the office for an afternoon break.

The Starbucks mantra “Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome” doesn’t include delivery nor is it the thought Howard Schultz started the company with.

As for looking at becoming more than the ubiquitous McDonald’s or DD, check this out.

Oh, save us from more caffeine! This is SO going to work. Starbucks will proliferate even more than they have now. But on the dark side (can’t help it), is anyone else waiting for the “caffeine is bad for you” hammer to drop?

My doctor told me that one cup (actual cup) of coffee a day is not bad for anyone. Two cups; depends on the person’s chemistry. And three cups (just short of a Venti) a day is too much for anyone and not healthy. Given that, I know people who drink at least two huge coffees a day in one form or another. Lots of them, actually. The term “everything in moderation” doesn’t really apply to Americans, does it? Look out below. Question: Is caffeine in the 2020s what cigarettes were in the 1950s?

Anyway, just throwing that out there to see how many “thumbs downs” I’ll get. 🙂

Really? I guess this will work for some people. How hard is it to get up and walk to your nearest Starbucks? With all this “never leave my house and never get out and walk around” convenience, there’s got to be a crowd out there for whom I think the next delivery need will be treadmills! Here’s an idea: a time share for a treadmill ownership. Customers can book it online and use it for a scheduled hour a day. You pick it up and deliver it to the next Grubhubber/Uber Eater in need of some exercise. Who’s in on this one with me?

I can’t imagine there’s much margin in delivering a hot cup of coffee a mile away. Is Starbucks willing to charge the fee to cover the cost, if not eliminate a loss, on a delivery? Consumers want convenience, and are willing to pay for it. So the goal is for Starbucks to find the balance of what works.

Individual cups of coffee will be a challenge for delivery for several reasons: the foam issue mentioned, keeping the coffee hot, and the fee that will be charged for the delivery. These are difficult problems to overcome; coffee will be a challenging category for delivery. Carafes for several people would be a more likely delivery item assuming everyone at the delivery location would want the same item. Starbucks’ biggest challenge is more about stimulating demand with the delivery problems mentioned above. Uber Eats will be solving delivery issues for all of its clients with or without Starbucks..

I worked in an office with a Keurig and bought Starbucks whenever I had enough time to wait in the 15-minute line. Why? Keurigs are notoriously unsanitary— especially in an office setting where the elusive “someone” takes responsibility for cleaning it.

Starbucks delivery willl be the perfect way for CEOs to reward their teams, or for office workers to come together and self-treat on a Monday. It’s not “laziness,” but it’s the antitdote to trying to navigate long lines and wait times on a tight corporate schedule.

I am sure there are some people that want coffee delivered to their home or offices, but I think the demand is low for this. The exception is when you are making a big order for a group of people or for a meeting, when a box of coffee often makes more sense.

Delivery execution and stimulating demand are equally as challenging. While it is good to offer consumers choices and options, I think there are better things for Starbucks to focus on, like faster service. Long lines inside and in the drive-thru is a bigger challenge for Starbucks.

Starbucks knows their customer well. They know that customers value convenience over anything else, including price […] It should be a lesson to their lower-priced competitors, such as McDonald’s and Dunkin’, that convenience is always going to win more customers than price. hashtag#retail hashtag#starbucks hashtag#uber hashtag#custserv

I like Uber Eats and I like Starbucks, but I can’t reckon paying the delivery cost for cups of coffee. The packaging waste bothers me too. Then as others mention here, the temperature issue could be a hangup.

Starbucks certainly has reason to offer its products in any and every way its customers desire. I think its decision to partner with a third party tells the tale: If it thought this had truly big potential, Starbucks would create its own delivery service and keep more of the margin.

Delivery is becoming pervasive in just about every product category, so why not coffee? Yes, there are unique challenges in delivering a quality coffee product, but if Starbucks is willing to see this “experiment” though I have no doubt they will find a way to make it work. The question is — will it be a profitable approach? Delivery costs more and at some point, customers will look at the premium they are paying for delivery over and above the premium they are paying for the product and some may finally say enough is enough! Starbucks will need to determine just how large a customer segment it is that wants coffee delivery. I suspect they have plenty of loyal fans that would make this worthwhile although perhaps not at all locations.

Starbucks has struggled and hasn’t innovated since MOPIS. It’s hard to see how this is going to make a material impact in its business but presumably their test was informative and a reason to make the investment. The quality and value proposition of a Nespresso machine versus Starbucks Coffee delivered, at least for me, is clear but like so many other things, the diversity of customer wants and needs makes a market, Beyond group orders, it’s hard to see the economics of this favorably given the costs and pricing around delivery.