Loyalty Not the Name of the Game Among Coffee Drinkers

INVERNESS, Ill. -- Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's can still count on a large percentage of loyal coffee drinkers, but recent research found that "roamers" still rule the roost.

CustomerDNA, a marketing and research consulting firm, recently conducted a benchmark survey of the shopping habits of more than 15,000 quick serve restaurants. Its report, "QSRdna", found that 41 percent of Starbuck's customer visits are from customers who can be described as "loyals" who do not frequent any other coffee/breakfast chain during the average month. However, the report also found that 53 percent of customers can be described as "roamers" also visit either Dunkin' Donuts or McDonald's during the average month.

Similar patterns emerged at Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's. Dunkin Donuts counts 42 percent loyals and 53 percent roamers; McDonald's had the most loyal customers with 62 percent visits by customers who do not visit either of the other two during the average month, according to the report.

"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."