starbucks offers ‘willy wonka’ AR experience in world’s largest store

coffee meets theatre as starbucks adds a touch of willy wonka to their second roastery location in shanghai, china. the coffee giant will create their first-ever in-store starbucks AR experience in what will be their largest store – the shanghai roastery – set to open tomorrow wednesday december 6th.

the shanghai roastery will be starbuck’s largest store,
all images courtesy of starbucks

starbucks has teamed up with chinese tech giant alibaba to create a custom ‘roastery smartphone app’, allowing customers to walk around the store and point at different features delivering a tour of the store’s equipment. as well as a digital menu every step of the coffee roasting journey will be explained through playful animation, letting users virtually see the beans as they travel through copper pipes and various gadgets. along the way, customers collect virtual badges, and once they’ve earned all of them, they’ll receive a custom roastery social media filter to share.

customers can walk around the store and point at different features delivering a tour of the store’s equipment

‘it’s like alice in wonderland meets willy wonka,’ said emily chang, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for starbucks, china. ‘it’s one thing to imagine a fully integrated in-store and digital experience, which brings together the impressive scale of the shanghai roastery with the highest quality small-lot coffee beans. it’s quite another to watch the ar experience get built, and come to life.‘

starbucks has teamed up with chinese tech giant alibaba to create a custom ‘roastery smartphone app’

header video by alibaba group