Starbucks Korea is giving free drink and food discount coupons to all membership members. The move is seen as an effort to expand customer touchpoints to restore brand trust after the Tank Day marketing controversy in May.
According to the industry on the 8th, Starbucks Korea will distribute two types of summer coupons, usable from today through Aug. 14, to all Starbucks Rewards members. The coupons are offered to members of all tiers, including Welcome, Green and Gold.
The summer coupons consist of a free drink coupon and a 30% food discount coupon. With the free drink coupon, members can choose one tall-size Americano, caffe latte or vanilla latte.
For members who signed up through the 7th of last month, the coupons were issued in bulk today. Those who sign up through the 31st of this month can receive them sequentially starting the day after joining.
Until now, Starbucks has offered a variety of membership benefits timed to seasonal promotions and new product launches, such as 1+1 coupons, free size-up coupons and discount coupons. The company said the summer coupons are also a seasonal event designed to ease the burden of in-store use for customers during the summer.
Earlier, Starbucks was embroiled in controversy after facing criticism that the promotional copy and event structure used in the "Tank Day" promotion held in May evoked the May 18 Democratic Uprising. As the controversy grew, the company ended the event early and issued an official apology, and Chung Yong-jin, chairman of Shinsegae Group, personally issued a public apology.
According to Mobile Index by data analytics company IGAworks, Starbucks' estimated credit and debit card payment amount last month was 100.39 billion won, down about 20.8 billion won from May's 121.19 billion won. During the same period, the number of Starbucks app users fell 13.8%, from 8,190,191 to 7,060,541.