Starbuck's Win-Win Strategy

Starbuck's has been very successful—so successful in fact that customers have complained about the long lines at the counter. Potential customers were scared off, and some existing customers were discouraged. The answer to the problem was a smart card. Win #1: Average waiting time was cut from 10 seconds to four seconds. Win #2: In the first two months that the cards were available, consumers bought 2.3 million of the cards with a total value of $32 million. That should finance a few more outlets. Cards are available in denominations ranging from $5 to $500.