Last week in Downtown Chicago, we had the opportunity to experience the grand opening of the world’s largest Starbucks. This location stands at 4 storeys tall and covers 35,000 square feet on the Magnificent Mile. But once the doors opened at 9AM, the roastery reached its 1,000-person capacity within an hour. 

When we finally made it to the door, we were excited to get inside and see what made the wait worthwhile. Clearly we weren’t the only ones who waited hours, Eater Chicago reported that the roastery had 10,000 visitors on the opening day. And if you’re wondering, yes, we endured the cold standing in line for almost 2 hours.

The opening of this Roastery’s doors brought together tourists and locals to try sweet treats and creative coffee beverages. But more importantly, this location offers the perfect mix of experience and education to enhance customer engagement.

For the past several years, retailers have been intently researching and experimenting with new methods to keep their customers engaged throughout the shopping experience – both online and offline. This includes adding contrasting lighting, music, and other sensory elements into their stores.

According to Mood Media, 78% of shoppers say an enjoyable atmosphere plays a key factor in opting to make purchases in-store. This means for retailers there is real value in taking the time to provide their customers with a memorable experience.

After our visit, we began to reflect on some of key elements that enabled Starbucks to deliver a great experience to thousands of visitors. Based on this, we believe that retailers should prioritize the following:

Aim to build an experience around your customer

In building a strong retail customer experience strategy, it’s essential to keep it centered around the customer. This enables you to deliver value by strategically placing products, furniture, and even staff members in specific areas throughout your store.

Once we walked into the Roastery, we were greeted by friendly staff members that encouraged us to explore each level at our leisure. Every level of the roastery was designed to appeal to a wide variety of customers. On the second level of the Roastery, which is dedicated to an authentic Italian bakery created by Rocco Princi, there were high-quality Italian dishes, servers dressed in white chef coats, and well-dressed staff offering tastings of exclusive breads.

When we visited the third floor, which the company designed to be centered around “the art, science, and theater of coffee”, we were able experience unique coffee creations offered at the experiential coffee bar and converse with knowledgeable greeters who explained the ins & outs of the features on their floor. This was all in effort to deliver the most engaging, immersive experience to customers.

Like Starbucks, it’s equally important for you as a retailer to look for ways to invest in your customer experience.

Design a floorplan with your customer in mind

The next component in building a memorable customer experience comes from the design of the floorplan. A well-designed floor plan can help you increase sales and add tremendously to the experience.

What made our visit to the Chicago roastery unique was how intimate it felt. From the 56-foot bronze-colored cask to the burlap bags of unroasted beans, Starbucks carefully constructed a multi-sensory experience that allow visitors to become apart of the story.

Being that the intent was to ignite customer interaction and provide a sense of community, they built in a large card wall that visitors could sign, murals from local artist in Chicago, and a “clacker board” to announce featured roasted coffees and special events. 

The wooden décor, low tables, and big open windows on each floor made the Roastery feel more like a lounge rather than a traditional coffee shop. This is significant because the intimate arrangement of the furniture allowed us and others to engage in casual conversation.

As a retailer, it’s important to intentionally build out your floor plan to provide your customer with the best experience. This can help you keep potential customers in the store longer and influence their purchasing decisions.

Focus on developing ways for your staff to deliver exceptional customer service

Lastly, the final aspect for retailers to consider in creating a memorable experience for their customers is through customer service. This is the way employees approach customers from their tone of voice, their body language and their compassion.

From the moment that we walked through the door, to the second that we sat down to have our lattes, the staff at Starbucks were completely focused on making sure we were satisfied with our experience. When the staff weren’t behind the counter making coffees and drinks, they were out on the floor checking on tables, approaching visitors who seemed lost, and speaking with guests in the queue to make their wait feel less lengthy.

The reason Starbucks was able to accomplish this was through preparation. Given this opening was a monumental event for Chicagoans, immense preparation was required to deliver exceptional customer service and appeal to guests’ expectations.

In preparation for the event, Starbucks needed the best people for the job.

Speaking with multiple employees, we couldn’t help but notice their nametags also included their home location. For the grand opening, Starbucks strategically recruited the best of the best Starbucks employees from around the country to not only work at the biggest Starbucks in the world but also provide top of the line customer service for the guests in attendance.

As retailers, it is important to have the best employees on the floor each day. It is the employees that ultimately have the power to turn a customer’s negative experience into a positive one.

Through opening its now 6^th Roastery in the world, Starbucks continues to redefine how people experience coffee. To learn more about other brands are using experiential retail to cater to their customers, please read our recent Alibaba or Toys”R”Us blogs.