Coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) recently made a move that some will embrace, and some will shun, potentially making this a scenario that does more harm than good. Starbucks got together with ChatGPT to produce a new app that allows users to better discover new drinks at Starbucks. Investors took it as a mixed blessing as well, based on the fractional gain seen in Starbucks shares in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Using the app requires customers to enable the Starbucks app through ChatGPT’s app directory. Once that is done, enter a prompt that includes “@Starbucks”. From there, Starbucks customers can then find new drinks based on their preferences, whether through the mobile pap, through its “trending beverage” category, or through the “offers” tab and its secret menu.
Starbucks’ senior vice president of digital and loyalty, Paul Riedel, noted, “Over the past year, one thing has become clear: customers aren’t always starting with a menu. They’re starting with a feeling… We wanted to meet customers right in that moment of inspiration and make it easier than ever to find a drink that fits.”
Summer Drinks Fall Flat
Starbucks’ summer menu is meeting with some resistance from Starbucks’ fanbase, though. Fans were less than pleased with the new offerings, calling on Starbucks to abandon such flavors as the Tropical Butterfly Refresher and the Iced Horchata Shaken Espresso. Instead, fans wanted a fix to the classic chai flavors, with many bemoaning the lack of a favored “comfort drink.”
Also serving as a burr under Starbucks fans’ collective saddle was the Unicorn Frappuccino. This Coachella-only drink raised ire for its exclusivity, a point we actually called out previously. We asked the rhetorical question, why would Starbucks leave money on the table by leaving the Unicorn Frap, as some call it, at Coachella when there would be so many others interested in that taste of exclusivity? Indeed, Starbucks fans rose up and castigated Starbucks for not bringing the drink to regular rotation.
Is Starbucks Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SBUX stock based on 13 Buys, 12 Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 21.93% rally in its share price over the past year, the average SBUX price target of $100.83 per share implies 2.09% upside potential.
