How Loyal are Coffee Drinkers? Not Very, Says CustomersDNA Benchmark Study

More Than Half of All Starbuck’s Customers Visit Competitive Chains

INVERNESS, Ill.--()--While there are many millions of coffee drinkers who rely completely on Starbuck’s to satisfy their coffee urges, more than half of Starbuck’s customer visits come from customers who regularly visit Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonald’s for a hot beverage and/or breakfast over the course of a month.

This is among the findings of QSRdna, a massive benchmark survey of the annual shopping habits over 15,000 quick serve restaurant (QSR) customers conducted by CustomersDNA, a marketing and research consulting firm.

The QSRdna report found that while 41 percent of Starbuck’s customer visits come from customers who can be considered “loyals” who did not visit any other coffee/breakfast chain during the average month, 53 percent, identified as “roamers,” also stopped by either Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonald’s during an average month.

Shopping patterns for Dunkin’ Donuts’ customers were similar (42 percent loyals and 53 percent roamers). McDonald’s had the most loyal customers, with 62 percent of the visits by those that did not visit either Starbuck’s or Dunkin’ Donuts during the average month.

“The significance of these patterns became clear when we found that the roamers purchased a hot beverage and/or breakfast nearly twice as often as loyals,” said Dave Jenkins, CustomersDNA's co-founder. “During the average month, loyal customers of each of the three chains visited their favorite store 6.7 times, while the roamers averaged 13 visits per month. Capturing more of these sometime-customers to is key to winning the coffee/breakfast battle.”

The study examined consumer visit patterns, frequency and customer loyalty and menu preferences across five purchase occasions (breakfast, lunch/dinner, hot beverage only, cold beverage only and frozen treat only) over the course of a 12 month period. The report provides chain operators with a diagnostic tool for identifying, evaluating and attracting high-value customers as well as detailing their spending levels, the items they purchase and which other chains they patronize.

About QSRdna

QSRdna is a consumer study conducted by CustomersDNA, LLC, a marketing and research consulting practice headquartered in Inverness, Illinois. The study is based on a national sample of over 15,000 respondents and covered 75+ quick serve restaurant (QSR) chains nationwide and more than 2,000 specific chain menu items. The study focused on consumer loyalty, purchase cycles, visit patterns and menu preferences. For more information visit www.qsrdna.com or contact Dave Jenkins at 847 903 5774 Dave@customersdna.com. Media contact: Bob Bregenzer at bob@invernesscommunications.com or by phone at 847 682-2854.

Contacts

CustomersDNA, LLC
Dave Jenkins, 847-903-5774
Dave@customersdna.com
or
Media contact:
Inverness Communications, Inc.
Bob Bregenzer, 847-682-2854
bob@invernesscommunications.com

Release Summary

Benchmark study on quick serve restaurant (QSR) customer loyalty conducted by CustomersDNA shows McDonald's coffee/breakfast customers more loyal than Starbuck's customers.

Contacts

CustomersDNA, LLC
Dave Jenkins, 847-903-5774
Dave@customersdna.com
or
Media contact:
Inverness Communications, Inc.
Bob Bregenzer, 847-682-2854
bob@invernesscommunications.com