Starbucks Korea's annual 'Frequency Event' has gained popularity again this summer, leading to a shortage of some giveaways. This summer, consumer expectations were high for limited-edition goods from the collaboration with the global fashion brand 'Lacoste.' However, even if customers access the Starbucks mobile app every morning to receive giveaways, they often find them sold out, leading to complaints that all the efforts to collect frequency points are pointless.
According to industry sources on the 6th, Starbucks will hold the '2025 Summer E-Frequency' event until the 20th. By purchasing a total of 17 beverages, including 3 mission drinks, customers can receive one of 10 limited-edition giveaways such as a multi bag, a wide folding chair, or a trench towel from the Lacoste collaboration. Considering that the average price of a beverage is around 6,000 won, customers would need to spend about 100,000 won to receive a giveaway.
The problem is that even if customers collect all the frequency points, reserving popular giveaways feels like 'picking stars from the sky.' Reservations start daily at 7 a.m. through the Starbucks mobile app, and popular items like the multi bag or folding chair are sold out in less than a minute. In fact, the number of people waiting exceeds tens of thousands as soon as reservations begin.
A person surnamed Lee, who lives in Seoul, said, "I tried waiting on the app from 6:30 a.m. for a week to receive the bag, but I ultimately failed to make a reservation and ended up applying for the towel instead." They added, "It wasn’t the desired giveaway, but I felt I couldn’t waste the frequency points I collected. There were also many instances where app access was delayed or crashed, causing my reservation order to slip." Another consumer remarked, "Collecting 17 points is tough, but reserving a giveaway is even harder. An event that started for fun has turned into a source of stress," adding, "I am still trying because I feel bad about the frequency points I've already collected."
In this situation, Starbucks is encouraging frequency point accumulation. On the 13th of last month, which marked the 3rd week of the event, Starbucks held a 'Double E-Sticker Accumulation' event for three days. During this period, purchasing manufactured drinks at stores allowed customers to earn double frequency stickers. For example, buying 1 beverage earned 2 frequency stickers, while buying 2 beverages earned 4 stickers.
Some consumers say that after this event, the number of people eligible to receive giveaways increased, making reservations even more competitive. With about 2 weeks remaining in the event, the ivory color of the multi bag is completely sold out. Both the green and ivory colors of the wide folding chair are temporarily unavailable.
Starbucks Korea introduced an online reservation system in 2021 to prevent offline 'open runs.' This was a measure implemented after the phenomenon of customers lining up several hours before store opening to receive 'Summer Ready Bags' and 'Summer Chairs' as frequency giveaways in 2020. However, issues such as server delays have also arisen. There have been frequent instances of reservations being blocked due to pop-ups saying 'abnormal activity detected.'
In light of this situation, some consumers demand improvements to the system. They suggest that giveaways should be distributed according to the order of frequency points earned or that the production quantity should be increased after conducting pre-preference surveys.
In response, a representative from Starbucks Korea stated, "This year we increased the quantity of giveaways by more than 80% compared to last year, but the pace of distribution has more than doubled, concentrating reservations on some popular items." They added, "We are expanding our cloud servers to respond while monitoring traffic through annual updates to the reservation system."
They continued, "To provide as many customers as possible with giveaways, we have limited each ID to a maximum of 5 reservations, including the first one, every 7 days, regardless of the item." They concluded, "We will continue to strive for smooth distribution by reflecting customers' varied opinions."
The spotlight is on whether this year’s Starbucks giveaway frenzy, which has attracted many consumers, will end without incident.