Photo: Hamza Inayat
Entrepreneur and Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz unveiled in an Open Forum on April 4 that the coffeehouse giant is looking to launch into the NFT business before 2022 ends. The company confirmed the announcement after a few hours.
While Schultz did not give a specific date for the company’s entry into the NFT world, he guaranteed that it would be “sometime before the end of this calendar year.”
In his speech, the executive struck the crowd with the question of how many among them had heard about NFTs. He also asked how many of the audience had been involved in NFTs or NFT investments.
Although the room grew quiet, Schultz clarified that the business was new and that Starbucks had the most fitting instruments and lineups to expand into this novel ecosystem.
“If you look at the companies, the brands, the celebrities, the influencers that are trying to create a digital NFT platform and business, I can’t find one of them that has the treasure trove of assets that Starbucks has, from collectibles to the entire heritage of the company,” said Schultz.
Schultz’s promotion at the helm could mean more Starbuck’s support for crypto. Notably, other conventional firms are not just backing NFT launches but also making new crypto experiences such as stores in the metaverse or partnerships with other crypto platforms.
A point stressed by Schultz during his talk was that Starbucks is not merely a beverage brand but an organization with years of tradition, history, and collectibles discovered worldwide that not a digital artist solely could contend against.
Considering that fact, if the giant extends its efforts on it, it could make one of the biggest NFT marketplaces in the world. Despite a collaboration with other similar companies in the industry like Coca-Cola, Budweiser, or Pepsi, the business opportunities are endless, mainly because these brands already give their customers satisfaction with collectibles such as cans, bottles, and special editions of crowd-favorite drinks.
