Starbucks Begins Testing ‘Odyssey’ Web3 Rewards: All You Need to Know

The 51-year-old Seattle-based company is attempting to use modern technology to appeal to the next-generation of coffee customers.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 9 December 2022 13:54 IST

Starbucks Begins Testing ‘Odyssey’ Web3 Rewards: All You Need to Know

Photo Credit: Starbucks

The Odyssey initiative is expected to see a wider roll out in early 2023

Highlights

Starbucks has partnered Polygon to issue NFT rewards
Odyssey initiative will let Starbucks customers play games
The initiative was first hinted about earlier this year

Starbucks is set to give its customer loyalty rewards a Web3 flavour with the start of its much awaited ‘Odyssey' initiative. Clean and green Polygon blockchain has been chosen by Starbucks to issue ‘Journey Stamps' as NFTs, that would allow the holders to be part of ‘interactive journeys'. For now, the coffee chain has roped in a small group of people that had registered to join the waitlist to test the feature. The Seattle-based 51-year-old company is attempting to use modern technology to appeal to the next generation of coffee customers.

The Odyssey programme will let Starbucks customers play interactive games as well as complete activities and journeys to earn points and unlock stamps.

Today was a special day for web3 adoption.

As they have in the past, @starbucks is pioneering new technology and next-gen loyalty.

I'm super proud to be part of the team and set of partners that helped bring this to life.

Here's a peak inside the Starbucks Odyssey Beta. pic.twitter.com/lWKsvF1Y4k
— bunchu.eth (@BunchuBets) December 9, 2022

“We are leveraging Web3 technology to reward and connect with our members in new ways, such as offering collectible, ownable digital stamps, a new digital community, and opening access to new benefits and immersive coffee experiences – both physically and digitally,” Brady Brewer, Starbucks Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer said in an official statement.

The beta interface of Starbucks Odyssey shows the screen display journeys such as ‘Coffee Heritage' or ‘Holiday Cheer', that can be chosen by people to interact with and earn their rewards.

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Coffee-lovers will also be able to have virtual tour of Starbucks coffee farm Hacienda Alsacia in Costa Rica and participate in trivia about the heritage of Starbucks.

“Shortly after beta launch, members will have access to the Starbucks Odyssey market powered by Nifty Gateway, where they can buy or sell Starbucks Odyssey digital collectible Stamps among members, with Polygon as the blockchain for the entire experience starting with the beta launch,” the official statement noted.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz first disclosed details of the company's Web3 plans during its Q3 earnings call.

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In September, the company partnered Polygon as its blockchain provider to support its Web3 and NFT initiatives.

The Odyssey initiative is expected to see a wider roll out in early 2023.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Starbucks, Odyssey, NFT, Web3, Polygon

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More