From a cup of coffee to the third space, how does Starbucks empower the coffee experience with digitalization?

Technology is rewriting the logic of consumption.

In the past, buying clothes was simply about updating one's wardrobe. Today, with the support of AI recommendations and virtual fitting rooms, it has become a process of exploring personal style. In the past, going to the bank was just for depositing and withdrawing money. Now, with the influence of mobile payment and intelligent investment advisory, it has turned into a financial management assistant that provides a sense of security. In the past, buying coffee was just for a pick - me - up. Now, in the context of digital ordering and the atmosphere of the "third place", it has become a moment of leisure in life.

From buying a product to harvesting an experience - This change in the consumption logic has also made technology not just a tool to support the operation of the retail system, but a bridge connecting brands and consumers.

In short, technology is transforming one - time product transactions into long - term relationship building.

McKinsey's research shows that 71% of consumers expect brands to provide personalized interactions, and 76% of consumers will be frustrated and more likely to switch to competitors when there is a lack of personalization. This indicates that "being understood" has become a prerequisite for maintaining brand relationships. PwC's research shows that 73% of consumers list "experience" as a key factor in their purchasing decisions, further confirming that interaction and emotional identification are becoming the new core of consumption choices.

If data enables consumers to obtain a personalized experience of "being understood", then interaction further deepens their emotional identification and sense of participation in the brand.

Especially in China, the world's largest single consumer market with a population of 1.4 billion, the superimposed effect of demand upgrading and technological innovation has been infinitely magnified. The key reason why those consumer giants can maintain their competitiveness in different cycles lies in the in - depth integration of technology and consumption, so that each experience carries unique value.

Starbucks Innovation and Technology Center in China (SITC) is exactly the digital and intelligent answer submitted by the global coffee brand Starbucks. On September 17, 2025, with the official move to the new site of the Shenzhen Hetao Science and Technology Innovation Center, SITC also released its digital and intelligent achievements over the past two years, covering three core areas: stores, products, and partners.

This is not just a display of the digital and intelligent achievements of a coffee giant, but also a concrete annotation of Starbucks' in - depth localization and technological innovation gene in China. As Luo Jinpeng, the vice - president and chief technology officer of Starbucks China, said, "Since the establishment of SITC two years ago, with our solid technological foundation and data capabilities, we have been acting as the core driving engine, accelerating Starbucks China's transformation into an experience - based coffee company fully empowered by digitalization."

In an innovation high - ground that brings together universities, research institutions, and unicorn enterprises, SITC also marks the implementation of Starbucks' concept of "integrating technology with humanity" in the Chinese market. In Luo Jinpeng's view, with the empowerment of AI technology, Starbucks will create more innovation opportunities of "integrating technology with humanity" in more scenarios, expanding Starbucks' unique competitive advantages in stores, products, and partners unprecedentedly, and creating more abundant new value for customers.

How does the "third place" experience brought by a cup of coffee reveal Starbucks' digital and intelligent gene?

From a cup of coffee that understands you better to a "third place" tailored to each individual

"When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper, ink, and glue. You sell him a new life." These words of the protagonist in the works of American best - selling author Christopher Morley seem to have predicted the arrival of the experience economy era nearly a hundred years later.

When consumption no longer stays at the satisfaction of basic functions, the economic form has the possibility of leaping from products to services and gradually reaches the critical point of experience. In the current context, a cup of coffee no longer just serves to refresh oneself, but also represents a slice of leisurely time and a cultural identity brought by a unique space for social interaction.

An often - overlooked fact is that Starbucks' "third place", as a classic case of the experience economy, has been more than thirty years since founder Howard Schultz first proposed it. As a spiritual place outside of home and work - Starbucks' positioning has been continuously verified and strengthened in the wave of consumption.

Entering the digital and intelligent era dominated by AI, Starbucks has injected new connotations into the "third place" through the technological innovation of SITC. Storytelling, interactive reach, and personalized experience together form the fulcrum of this upgrade.

The logic behind it coincides with the product philosophy advocated by Steve Jobs: injecting the beauty of humanity into cold technology. SITC has gradually deployed electronic menu boards in Starbucks stores across the country. As a new communication interface for customers' experience in the third place, it is the key bridge that Starbucks has built between technology and humanity.

First of all, it is a content platform that can tell stories.

It is understood that this electronic screen interface will become a new platform for Starbucks to share stories with customers. Taking the electronic screen in Starbucks Reserve stores as an example, customers will see not only the regular menu and the popular seasonal new products but also the origin of the beans and the varieties behind them.

Secondly, it is also a medium that can interact and provide emotional value.

During special moments such as New Year's Eve and Christmas, the electronic screens in stores are replaced with exclusive festival visual content to create a ceremonial atmosphere for customers. From the festival packaging of limited - edition drinks to festival greetings and pictures, the electronic screen makes each order carry exclusive festival memories, creating a warmer personalized experience and emotional value for customers.

This kind of interaction in the festival atmosphere makes the third place go beyond a simple coffee shop and become a place that carries customers' emotions and memories. What customers get is not an ordinary cup of coffee but an exclusive experience of being recognized and understood.

Finally, it is an even more "third place" that understands your needs.

In terms of personalization, the upgraded product center and menu center of SITC provide a unified digital and intelligent foundation for stores, making the concept of "different stores with different characteristics" truly come true. When entering a Starbucks in a business district of an office building during the morning rush hour, the electronic menu board will automatically push quick breakfast combinations and refreshing drinks to meet the efficient needs of office workers.

During the afternoon in a mall store, the interface will present light food and dessert recommendations to fit the atmosphere of shopping breaks. In the evening, the menu will switch to a more relaxing drink combination, and even cooperate with music and lighting to create a sense of social or gathering scenarios.

In the future, with the empowerment of AI technology, Starbucks stores with "different stores with different characteristics" will continue to evolve into smart spaces that can understand, predict, and meet customers' personalized needs, and at the same time, make it more convenient for customers to find the most suitable stores. For example, recently, the "interest - based social space" launched in more than 1,800 Starbucks stores across the country is a means of technological innovation to match and attract relevant interest groups, allowing customers to easily find their favorite stores and like - minded people.

This kind of agile dynamic response makes ordering a cup of coffee no longer a one - size - fits - all process but an experience tailored to time, place, and mood.

Personalization goes far beyond ordering and penetrates into every innovation link of a cup of coffee. From a technological perspective, the core of personalization is prediction and recommendation. Therefore, based on the insight ability brought by big data, Starbucks' third place has not only become smarter but also made product innovation an "art driven by data".

In the past, the innovation of new products in the catering industry relied more on the inspiration and experience of the R & D team. However, with the empowerment of SITC's digital and intelligent capabilities, AI and big data are now becoming the core driving force for Starbucks' product creativity and innovation iteration.

The breakfast test project recently launched by Starbucks in Shenzhen is a microcosm of SITC's technological empowerment of product innovation. Through big data insights and models, SITC has established a rapid innovation model of "insight - R & D - test - promotion - feedback". Aiming at the consumption habits of the breakfast - consuming population in first - tier cities represented by Shenzhen, Starbucks has launched "Daily Black Coffee", "Daily Milk Coffee", and a variety of food combination packages, and optimized the pricing based on the characteristics of high - frequency repurchase.

Another example is the "Authentic Taste, Sugar - Free" innovation system at the beginning of this year. With the technological empowerment of SITC, Starbucks has completely separated the flavor and sugar - content data across multiple beverage categories. By providing customers with 500 combination options, Starbucks has transformed each cup of beverage into a unique experience for each individual.

In the retail and catering industry, the conflict between brand scale and consumer personalization has always been an inevitable paradox.

Scaling requires unified standards and efficient replication, while coffee, as a highly personalized consumer product, naturally carries individual taste preferences and emotional expectations. The value of SITC lies in "smoothing out" the contradiction between the two through technological innovation: It not only ensures the efficient operation and unified quality of thousands of stores through digital system access but also generates personalized experience plans for different business districts, different groups of people, and different time periods through big data and AI algorithms.

Thus, personalization no longer stands in opposition to scale but becomes a form of business upgrade. If standardization ensures efficiency and stability, then personalization, storytelling, and interactivity bring unique experiences and emotional value to consumers. The combination of the two makes coffee change from "one - size - fits - all" to "tailored to each individual".

Leave the tedious tasks to technology and let partners have more time to serve customers and build emotional connections

Starbucks' third place belongs not only to customers but also to partners.

Since its establishment, Starbucks has established the "partner culture". As Schultz repeatedly emphasized in "Pour Your Heart Into It", "Take care of your partners, and they will take care of your customers." In other words, a good customer experience must be based on a good partner experience.

This value system highlights the humanistic background of Starbucks in its digital and intelligent transformation. In a sense, the partners in Starbucks' more than 40,000 stores around the world are not just the executors of making a cup of coffee but also the creators of the coffee experience.

Therefore, the mission of SITC is not to replace partners but to empower them through technological innovation - By using various digital and intelligent technologies such as automation and AI, partners are freed from cumbersome tasks and can focus more on coffee skills and building connections with customers.

For example, based on the automated store inventory management, SITC enables partners to shift their focus from "counting goods" to customers.

In the traditional retail industry operation, employees need to manually count inventory every day, fill out replenishment forms manually, and then communicate and coordinate with upstream suppliers. This is not only time - consuming and labor - intensive but also prone to errors. However, with the launch of Starbucks' "Rainbow System 2.0", this process has been completely rewritten.

It can not only conduct automated inventory but also accurately adjust the goods demand for 52 weeks throughout the year according to market trends, business plans, and store operation status, and cooperate with upstream suppliers to complete replenishment. For example, if a large number of bagel sandwiches are sold during the lunch rush hour in an office building store, the system will immediately capture this change and adjust the sandwich ordering demand for the next few days in the background to ensure that the store will not run out of stock in similar scenarios.

For partners, this means that the time that would have been spent on inventory management, expiration date management, and other operational management details can now be used for communicating with customers and demonstrating coffee skills.

Another example is that based on the store AI management tool, SITC enables partners to focus more on the customer experience through face - to - face communication.

In traditional store management, store managers often need to spend a lot of time on staff scheduling, cross - store personnel deployment, and operation monitoring: Who needs to change shifts? Which store needs support? Which partner is suitable for filling in? These cumbersome issues easily distract store managers' attention.

Now, with the help of Starbucks' human resources scheduling and multi - store coordination system, senior store managers can rely on AI tools to accurately predict the peak periods of daily customer flow and workload and automatically generate the optimal scheduling plan. When there is a shortage of staff in a store, the system can also match support candidates from nearby stores with one click, avoiding temporary communication.

At the same time, the "Store Health Diagnosis System" can also collect third - party customer comments in real - time and intuitively present the store operation status. For example, when the system finds that customers have more feedback on waiting time, the store manager can immediately adjust the scheduling or optimize the process.

With fewer distractions from cumbersome tasks and more stable work arrangements, partners can put more energy into making a cup of coffee and having sincere communication, truly conveying the warmth that the "third place" should have.

Finally, by using the intelligent Internet of Things and the intelligent hardware One–Box, SITC can also achieve cost - reduction and efficiency - improvement in store operation.

In the past, the adjustment of equipment such as air - conditioners, lighting, and ice - makers in stores mostly relied on manual experience, which not only consumed a lot of energy but also easily led to problems such as inconsistent temperatures or over - operation of equipment. Now, One - Box can automatically