Howard Shultz has reached an epiphany that Starbucks, customers want an easily accessible and free Wi-Fi service in its stores.  Currently customers must purchase a Starbucks Card and sign up on AT&T’s Wi-Fi service, a laborious process at best, giving a 2-hour window of free access. To that end, Starbucks will begin offering free Wi-Fi Service through a partnership with Yahoo to its customers in Starbucks owned stores across the U.S. beginning July 1, 2010. See (Starbucks Newsroom)

Being the first Coffee establishment to offer Wi-Fi service to its customers, originally through Sprint and then AT&T, which has the most widespread service; Starbucks created a trend which has now being surpassed by local coffee houses offering free Wi-Fi service and with national chains like McDonald’s rolling out their free service this year.

Writing was on the Wall

Since stepping back in as CEO in 2008 Shultz, now heading the 3^rd largest coffee chain, must be listening to customers as well as his “rank and file”.  With pressure from competition Shultz realized that not only does his company need to change with the times, but it must continue to differentiate itself within the marketplace. In addition to free Wi-Fi Starbucks will offer premium services like USA Today, NY Times, The Wall Street Journal and iTunes for free with additional digital product offerings. It will create a new collaborative community with customers who come in, drink coffee and eat Danish, while connecting them to what is relevant in their lives. See (Aiming at Rivals, Starbucks Will Offer Free Wi-Fi)

Creating the Community Experience to compliment the Purchasing Experience

While many establishments want customers to visit, spend money, and move on out the door; Starbucks is creating a community which will not only purchase products, but collaborate with each other and the world. It is a total experience offering the best of all current trends including; coming by sit for a while, drink our coffee, collaborate with each other, visit the latest amenities technology has to offer and create that second office space that many of us want and need. See (Bringing the Starbucks Experience Online)

Changing with Market Trends

The decision to change with increased customer preferences was a solid business decision for Starbucks. Since we all realize the value of collaborative exchange, Starbucks will make it easier to create the connections with other communities that enhance our experiences. In doing so, it will create new partnerships with external partners that will certainly grow its appeal to a core customer base, while setting itself apart from competitors in creating more of an (all-in-one) product for consumers.