Service Innovation: Keeping Warm and Dry on a Rainy Day

The original idea was originally a forum post on "NUS - Organizing for IT Innovation 2013", but has been elaborated for this post

This is NOT A REAL SERVICE. But I sure hope it will be. This is not restricted to Starbucks, any cafe or business with sufficient reach could launch it, if they figure out the logistics issues. I am only interested in the customer value proposition here

It is raining heavily, but I need to get to my wife, who is two buildings away. There is no shelter available along the way. My only options are to get an umbrella, or get wet. The second option does not sound appealing.

I check out the shops around. Cheers sell an umbrella for around $6. Giordano is selling their umbrella for half-price due to the rain ($6 as well). Then again, these umbrella are ulgy. But that is besides the point. I really really hate holding on to a wet dripping umbrella. And I most likely would forget about it and lose it anyway.

Then I spotted Starbucks. Did they not just launch that new service? Maybe I could try it. So I walked into Starbucks, and bought my umbrella for $6 as well. It did not look much better than the Cheers or Giordano version, though.

I got to my wife through the rain, relatively dry. I noticed Starbucks there as well, and suggested we go there for a drink.

I ordered a hot cup of Caffee Mocha, using my $5 Starbucks umbrella to redeem the drink, and topping up the differences of $1.10. I also ordered a hot cup of Cappuccino for my wife. And we ordered a cheese cake to share.

We spent a short time in Starbucks, enjoying the drinks and cake while waiting for the rain to stop. Not that it matters that much. We could always buy two Starbucks umbrellas, and redeem them for drinks the next time. Never thought I would see the day when I would not mind holding on to a wet dripping umbrella.