Starbucks & Gucci Enter the Web3 Chat 🛍☕️

Hey hey!

This past week, large retail companies that we all know and love announced that they are trying their hand at incorporating Web3 strategies into their marketing and retention plans for consumers. While there’s a good amount of crypto and Web3 skepticism right now because we’re in a bear market (prices in the overall market have declined by more than 20%, with Bitcoin and Ethereum going down to 35% and 39%, respectively), two interesting developments emerged in the past few days:

1. Gucci has announced that it will accept cryptocurrency payments in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas locations starting at the end of May.

2. Starbucks will reward their most loyal customers with NFTs.

Starbucks NFT Loyalty Program

If you go anywhere in the United States and ask someone if they’ve heard of Starbucks, there’s probably a 98% chance they have. The Pumpkin Spice Latte mafia is STRONG, okay?! They could be on their last $4 and still choose to buy a latte, and that’s because Starbucks has created strong brand recognition + brand loyalty among their core customers AND the general public. Web3 winners will be defined by the strength of their communities and the loyalty they’re able to create as a result.

Strong, active community → Greater demand to join community → The more valuable the token (which grants access to the community and exclusive perks) becomes → The more utility and value token holders receive → and repeat!

NFT / token holders will basically get rewarded for doing activities they would’ve done anyway. I have a strong feeling that we’ll begin to see more brands continue to emerge (albeit slowly) in this space because of the natural synergies. For now, let’s dive into how Starbucks is thinking through their approach:

According to Mashed, “In an effort to make Starbucks even more accessible, Starbucks wants to utilize NFTs to promote what it calls "the third place," which is described as a community-building space "outside of our homes and our workspaces." In that vein, Starbucks is now working to create a "global digital community" with NFTs at the core. 

While specific details about the collection have not yet been released, the team at Starbucks noted that the coffee giant wants to embrace the idea of NFTs as a "programmable, brandable digital asset, that also doubles as an access pass." As part of the larger Starbucks Web3 digital platform, the "branded NFT collections" aims to take inspiration from Starbucks' "coffee art and storytelling" to create a community and provide access to "exclusive experiences and perks." 

As of now, there has not been any elaboration as to what specific perks or experiences Starbucks is alluding to, nor is there any more detail into the specifics of the collection or the "world-class collaborations" the company has planned, but in this new digital landscape it would seem the sky's the limit.”

Gucci Accepts Crypto Payments at Select Locations 🛍

Gucci has actually been immersed in the Web3 space for a few months now. They’ve launched NFT collections, dabbled with fashion wearables in the metaverse, and more. Their next big leap is a huge signal to other luxury retailers (and even non-luxury retailers!) that crypto will eventually become mainstream once we hit mass adoption.

According to Vogue, “[Gucci] will accept cryptocurrency payments in some US stores at the end of this month, and plans to extend the pilot to all of its directly operated North America stores this summer.  The move marks a major validation for the currency from a leading luxury brand. In-store crypto payments will be made with a link sent via email to the customer; the link contains a QR code that allows them to execute the payment from their crypto wallet. The first Gucci stores to take crypto are Wooster Street in New York, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Miami Design District, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta and The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas. Gucci will accept payments in more than 10 currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Shiba Inu and five stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. It will also accept Dogecoin, a “meme” cryptocurrency originally created as a joke.Crypto payments are usually accepted in physical spaces through a QR code or NFC reader on an existing point of sale terminal that connects with a customer’s smartphone cryptocurrency app, similar to mobile credit card payments. A retailer can automatically convert the payment to fiat currency, such as US dollars, or keep the payments in the form of cryptocurrency.”

Final Thoughts

Overall, I wanted to highlight these two use cases because a lot of what I’m seeing in the news right now related to crypto and Web3 could potentially make people hesitant or skeptical about getting involved in the space. I completely understand that, and that’s why it’s so important to understand the technology and real-world applications of it. Just because we’re in a bear market doesn’t mean that hope is lost. To me, it’s actually quite the opposite. Adoption is beginning to increase and Fidelity even announced that they’re adding Bitcoin as an option for 401k investing. I believe that as long as I use the dollar-cost-average method and invest consistently over the long term, I will likely get average yearly returns. And year after year, we see that the value increases, so I’m playing for the long term. 💪🏽

As always, this is not financial or investment advice, just my two cents. :)

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