SEATTLE — Websites, e-commerce and what he described as the Amazon effect could lead both large and small companies to close retail stores in the coming years, said Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO for the Starbucks Coffee Co.
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| Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks |
“There is no doubt that over the next five years or so we are going to see a dramatic level of retailers not be able to sustain their level of core business as a traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer, and their omni-channel approach is not going to be sustainable to maintain the cost of their infrastructure, and as a result of that, there is going to be a tremendous amount of changes with regard to the retail landscape,” he said in a Nov. 3 earnings call.
Schultz said Starbucks stores have an advantage in that they maintain a special place in terms of a sense of community, an environment where people go to seek out human interaction. Starbucks could be in a unique position five to 10 years from now. Other retail stores closing could mean fewer stores competing for Starbucks’ customers, he said.
“I'm not talking about the coffee category,” Schultz said. “I am talking overall, but we are in the very, very early stages of a tremendous change in the bricks-and-mortar footprint of retailers domestically and internationally as a result of the sea-change in how people are buying things, and that is going to have I think a negative effect on all of retail, but we believe that it is going to have ultimately a positive effect on the position that we occupy and the environment that we create in our stores.”
New Starbucks roastery stores will be designed to enhance the consumer experience. The Seattle roastery, the only one in operation right now, delivered a comp sales increase of 24 percent in the fiscal year ended Oct. 2, Schultz said. A roastery in Shanghai, China, should begin operations next year.
“Opening in late 2017 on Nanjing Road among the busiest shopping destinations in the world, the Starbucks Shanghai roastery will be a stunning two-level, 30,000-sq.-ft. experiential destination showcasing the newest coffee brewing methods and offering customers the finest assortment of exclusive micro-lot coffees from around the world in an immersive all-sensory experience emblematic of our Seattle roastery, respectfully curated through a unique lens that will make it highly impactful and relevant to our Chinese customers,” he said.
Starbucks plans to open roasteries in New York and Tokyo in 2018. A roastery should open in Europe in 2019, but Starbucks has yet to select a city.
Starbucks has a digital presence as well. Mobile orders now represent 6 percent of transactions, said Kevin Johnson, president and COO.
“We are continuously improving the mobile order and pay experience with newly released functionality that presents our personalized offer directly on the front screen of the mobile app and allows the customer to save favorite stores, favorite customers’ beverages, and we have new features in the pipeline to be released shortly, including real-time personalized product suggestions and the ability to save favorite orders, and there is more coming,” he said.
Starbucks executives discussed results of the 2016 fiscal year in the Nov. 3 earnings call. Net earnings attributable to Starbucks in the year ended Oct. 2 were $2,817.7 million, equal to $1.90 per share on the common stock, which was up 2.2 percent from $2,757.4 million, or $1.82 per share, in the previous fiscal year. Consolidated net revenues grew 11 percent to $21,315.9 million from $19,162.7 million in the previous fiscal year. The 2016 fiscal year contained 53 weeks compared to 52 weeks for the previous fiscal year.
