Starbucks Announces Partnership with Lyft
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Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(SEATTLE) — Starbucks announced this week that it would partner with Lyft, one of the nation’s top ride-sharing services as part of a deal that it hopes will “increase value for current customers, attract new customers, reward Lyft drivers and explore a transportation benefit for Starbucks [employees].”
All Lyft drivers will be given the option to become members of Starbucks’ loyalty rewards program — immediately attaining gold status, which normally requires 30 Starbucks purchases in a one-year span. The announcement also says that Lyft riders will have the ability to earn loyalty stars, 12 of which gain the user a free drink and 30 gain them gold status.
“With Lyft’s presence in 65 cities across the U.S., where we also have Starbucks serving the same communities, we knew this collaboration would benefit our partners, Lyft’s drivers as well as our mutual customer who are already coming to Starbucks and using Lyft services,” Starbucks Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman said in a press release.
Lyft riders will apparently earn stars by taking Lyft rides, though it isn’t clear whether the rewards will be limited to a subset of Lyft users or any rider.
Brotman notes that the Starbucks “digital loyalty ecosystem can help strengthen Lyft’s ability to attract and retain customers, while at the same time accelerating the incrementality of redemption of rewards.” Lyft riders will also be able to gift their drivers with Starbucks electronic gift cards if they choose to thank their driver in a personal way.
Lyft also says it plans to experiment with a program that gives Starbucks baristas free Lyft rides to and from work.
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