Experience vs Free
Now I’m a huge fan of Starbucks, I love a good latte and have in the past been a daily “user”. Recently though, i’ve found myself going out of my way to go to some other bakeries in the area to get a coffee and a pastry of some sort, why? Free Wi-Fi. Starbucks has Wi-Fi but they use the t-mobile hotspot that requires a subscription, that varies from $6 for an hour, to $29 per month.
Panera Bread specifically has started to become a place of note in my life because it is a Wi-Fi oasis of sorts. It’s got to the point where I know where the nearest Panera Bread is depending on where I am in the neighborhood.
Now I’m not sure how many people there are who are so addicted to internet access that any free wi-fi thing is going to be a place of note, but for me it’s changing my buying behavior. Sure Starbucks is better coffee, and generally a better experience, but Panera Bread has ok coffee, ok experience, better sandwiches, and free wi-fi. For me that wins most of the time.
IMHO as Starbucks morphs into an entertainment (music/movies) company free wi-fi is going to be more essential to the rest of their business. I mean they sell a tonne of CD’s and I know their opening some hybrid Music/coffee “hear music” stores, and recently they’ve been promoting the “Akeelah and the Bee” movie.
In fact if they were giving away free wi-fi they could gain control of that first landing page, because right now the first thing that I see when I log onto a starbucks wi-fi is a bunch of marketing material for T-Mobile. When you log into a Panera Bread network you get the chance to sign up for the Panera Bread newsletter before you go online.
Clearly free hotspots are part of the strategy
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
James Melzer
My wife and I go to our local Panera about 2-3 times a week. I get a lot of work done there. Free wifi will only be a discriminating factor temporarily. Eventually every US hospitality business will be forced to offer it, like air conditioning in the 1950s-60s. I’m just surprised Starbucks is on the loosing end of this one.
Apr 29th, 2006
ozgur alaz
I like Pandera’s strategy of strive to build permision-based marketing. In Turkiye, there are some places offer free Wi-fi. When you try to log in, they request my name, my mail etc. Then, they bomb you spam messages.
Apr 29th, 2006
karl long
Yes, Panera is very user friendly, and they don’t require anything, you just have to hit a “agree to terms and conditions” button and your off and running, the next page you hit though certainaly “invites” you to plug in your email address to recieve their newletter, all things bread related I assume
I agree that wi-fi will soon be like air conditioning, it amazes me how many hotels still try and gauge for internet access. I’m always suitably outraged when a hotel tells me they have wi-fi but it’s 19.95 a day for “unlimited” access.
Apr 29th, 2006
Collagist
I am from the Boston suburb and the Panera bread here sure is a great place to get good food and get free Wi-Fi access. The atmosphere is great and there is always ample room.
I think that the Starbucks should evaluate their approach and either give free WiFi access or find a way to make it work with another partner.
May 6th, 2006
mikelite
rami at iwillteachyoutoberichDOTcom has a great phrase, probably found elsewhere too, called “failure of the last mile”. it’s a company’s failure to seal the deal, of sorts. And I think Panera does that with their newsletter. I signed up, thinking I’d get some neat tasties in my mailbox, but it turned out to be nothing. Such a loss. they could tap into that free wifi comunity and reward us, engage us, do something. but, instead, they punt.
Sep 16th, 2006
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