Starbucks wants you to be glued to your phone in its experimental, hi-tech roastery

Starbucks is trying something new in China, where tomorrow it opens its biggest and most hi-tech store ever. Over two floors, Starbucks’ Shanghai Roastery is the size of a soccer field.

GIF by Tech in Asia, from Alibaba video.

Starbucks wants you to be glued to your phone at this experimental new store. It has partnered with Alibaba, China’s online shopping titan, to make visits interactive.

As soon as someone walks in the door, a page pops up on their phones if they have Alibaba’s Taobao app installed. It shows a map of the huge store:

GIF by Tech in Asia, from Alibaba video.

And the menu of teas and coffees appears too.

GIF by Tech in Asia, from Alibaba video.

Elsewhere in the Roastery – only the second such store outside of Starbucks’ native Seattle – Alibaba has brewed up some augmented reality (AR) wizardry to help visitors understand what’s going on.

You can point your phone at the copper casks to see animations that detail what’s happening to the coffee beans in there.

GIF by Tech in Asia, from Alibaba video.

The AR explainers include the teas on offer as well.

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