Starbucks China launches internet promotion to lure customers

July 2, 7:21 AMAsia Headlines ExaminerGlen Loveland

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BEIJING – Starbucks Coffee kicked off a new campaign in its China locations to help drive traffic into its stores. The coffee retailer started a new promotion on July 1 called “Meet me at Starbucks” which encourages customers to invite their friends to join them for drinks and receive discounts and free drink coupons. Registered users can view their points and compete against others for prizes on a company website. The summer promotion will end on August 31.

Chinese consumers have been a bright spot for the luxury goods market and businesses catering to China’s upper middle-class. Xingbake (the American coffee chain's Chinese name) is popular with university students and white collar workers. A Venti iced coffee sells for 21 yuan, which puts it out of reach for the bulk of China’s rural population. A visit on Tuesday afternoon to Starbucks Guomao location found business brewing with a mix of Chinese and foreign customers.

The “Meet me at Starbucks” campaign is targeted at Starbucks stores for East China (Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai), North China (Beijing, Tianjin), Northeast (Dalian, Shenyang, Qingdao), Central China (Wuhan), Southwest (Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an), and South China (Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan).

Earlier this year China Starbucks location began offering a 90 yuan “discount card” which allows customers to save 10 percent on all purchases through September 30. Such prepaid discount cards are increasingly popular in a variety of industries in China.