Starbucks closed its pickup-only stores. The experiment in speed is over.

All roughly 90 pickup-only locations are shutting down as Starbucks pivots back to the coffeehouse model.

Starbucks will close all approximately 90 pickup-only locations. These stores — designed for maximum speed — no longer align with a strategy of being a place people want to spend time.

The reversal: pickup-only was not a failure of execution. It was a failure of premise. Starbucks optimised perfectly for grab-and-go, which turned out to be less valuable than staying a while.

Speed was the strategy. Then it became the problem. The fix is not faster. The fix is slower.

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SO WHAT?
Audit your customer experience for places where you optimised for speed at the cost of connection. The efficiency you gained might be the relationship you lost.

Source: TheStreet / CX Dive