Craze for Starbucks Korea’s reward items appears unstoppable

Amid the hype for Starbucks Korea’s small suitcases offered under its reward program, customers’ competition to get camping chairs, another promotional item, ran high this week ahead of an end to the seasonal event.

On May 21, Starbucks kicked off a summer promotional event that finished today, giving away limited editions of goods to customers under its “e-frequency” rewards program.

To secure one of two “summer-ready bags” or one of three foldable “summer chairs,” a person needed to drink 17 beverages, including three seasonal ones.

It’s a seasonal event, but this year, the craze to secure pink or green summer-ready bags was high enough to see the formation of long queues in front of Starbucks outlets nationwide at dawn.

As stockpiles for the suitcases recently ran out, customers’ last-minute race to get camping chairs heated up early yesterday morning.

People’s repeated search for the number of remaining chairs with the Starbucks app caused the application’s functions to freeze at one point, according to the company.

“Since I got a summer chair in early June, I’ve made several attempts to receive a green bag. But I gave up after seeing some 50 people waiting in front of me when I arrived 30 minutes earlier than the opening hour,” said a 39-year-old office worker surnamed Jung.

Indeed, demand for the summer-ready bags, in particular the pink ones, ran high, riding on the popularity of products targeting “home camping clans” during the new coronavirus outbreak.

In late May, one customer purchased 300 cups of coffee at once at a Starbucks branch in Seoul’s financial district of Yeouido. Snatching 17 summer bags, the person reportedly took just one cup and left the rest behind in the store.