Starbucks to Offer NFT-based Loyalty Program
Techcrunch • November 08, 2022
Starbucks will offer customers digital collectibles in the form of digital stamps to offer additional benefits and immersive experiences.
The program, dubbed Starbucks Odyssey, is planned to be built on Polygon, one of Ethereum's scaling solutions that sit on top of the Ethereum network. This will ensure high throughput with low-cost transactions, ideal for low monetary value transactions. Starbucks Odyssey aims to combine the company’s successful Starbucks Reward loyalty program with an NFT platform, allowing customers to both earn and purchase digital assets or unlock exclusive experiences.
Starbucks opts to make the usage of NFT obscure, by naming it digital collectables and not requiring participants to have a web3 wallet, trading off some of the self-sovereignty for user friendly-ness. Chief marketing officer Brady Brewer notes ‘“It happens to be built on blockchain and web3 technologies, but the customer — to be honest — may very well not even know that what they’re doing is interacting with blockchain technology. It’s just the enabler.”
Developments such as these, highlight companies incorporating web3 systems and value propositions into their web2 offerings, a prime example of incorporating trust-minimized applications in Starbucks loyalty and collection program.