How do most Starbucks customers take their coffee? Every store has milk, cream and half & half out for customers to serve themselves, but some coffee connoisseurs need more glamour in their morning cups of joe.
Mashable reported that Starbucks is selling a new kind of gift card for customers akin to a degree of luxury in their lives: a $50 gift card made from stainless steel and decorated in $150 worth of Swarovski crystals. The card will sell for $200 total, though Starbucks will only accept orders through Nov. 22.
“We continually innovate to find convenient and expressive ways to pay,” Brady Brewer, senior vice president of category brand management for Starbucks China and Asia Pacific Region, said in a statement during the bedazzled cards’ international launch. “This Starbucks Card is a premium option for customers looking to give a gift to themselves or their favorite Starbucks fan with something special. This is just the beginning of what we’re going to see for the holidays at Starbucks.”
As Brewer noted, this is far from the first time Starbucks has gotten creative — and in no small measure decadent — with its gift card designs. Mashable explained that during the 2014 holiday shopping season, Starbucks featured gift cards made from sterling silver, and in 2013, a card gilded with gold and pre-loaded with $400 graced the coffeehouse chain’s online stores. In comparison, a $200 card adorned with crystals seems downright frugal.
In a small wrinkle to Starbucks’ recent demonstrated commitment to mobile payments and seamless checkout options, the high-end gift cards have no magnetic strip and cannot be swiped, requiring cashiers to scan embedded barcodes and lengthening the checkout process by an extra few seconds.
All the more time for customers to enjoy the sight of their gleaming gift cards.
To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More