How to select a charging station location? Look at Starbucks!

The location selection of charging stations is crucial for their construction and operation. According to the latest data from the China Charging Alliance, the national charging infrastructure increment from January to April this year was 882000 units, with a year-on-year increase of 167.7% in the increment of public charging piles and 60.8% in the increment of private charging piles built with vehicles. As of April 2023, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in China is 6.092 million units, an increase of 95.9% year-on-year.

    In fact, the problem of "zombie piles" has always existed. In the early stages of charging station construction, the government's support policies and subsidies attracted a large number of enterprises to blindly expand into the charging station market, resulting in the inability of built charging stations to operate normally or insufficient surrounding traffic after construction, resulting in a large number of charging stations being idle. So, how should the charging station be located? Let's take a look at how Starbucks is located. This article has compiled Starbucks' site selection methods, which may provide you with inspiration and reference. 

1. Target audience

Before selecting a location, Starbucks first considers its target audience. Starbucks will choose different locations based on different target audiences. For example, some coffee shops may choose to operate in areas with high crowd density to attract more people to consume. For Starbucks, what they most want are those business people. So, Starbucks will consider this when selecting a location. They will choose areas with high pedestrian traffic, such as office buildings, schools, train stations, airports, etc.

It can be seen that before selecting a site, one must consider which groups of people they want to attract, and then choose the most suitable location. This will achieve twice the result with half the effort.

2. Traffic volume

In the location selection of Starbucks, pedestrian flow is a very important consideration, which is also convenient for consumers to quickly find. The underlying logic behind Starbucks choosing to open stores in areas with high traffic is similar. Firstly, choosing a place with high traffic can increase the company's exposure and visibility, which greatly helps in terms of economic benefits and brand image. Secondly, areas with high pedestrian traffic are also more convenient for conducting marketing activities and attracting more potential customers. In addition, selecting a location in areas with high pedestrian flow is more in line with consumers' consumption habits, which is conducive to enhancing customer return rates. From the above, it can be seen that choosing places with high pedestrian flow as the location strategy for enterprises can bring more business opportunities and opportunities.

3. Location

The principle of Starbucks' location selection is: superior geographical location, convenient transportation, and being able to reach the "closest" distance to the target customer group, but not too close, otherwise it cannot meet the customer's demand for coffee consumption. For the location selection of charging stations, this principle can also be used for reference. For example, the location of a charging station should be located in areas with high traffic volume and a concentration of car owners, such as highways, commercial areas, urban main roads, and residential parking lots.

4. Services

Starbucks' services have always been known for their high-quality and personalized services, which have also provided many beneficial insights for the charging services of charging stations. Firstly, charging services should be user demand oriented, providing users with as safe and efficient charging services as possible to meet their needs during the charging process. Similar to Starbucks' customized services, users can choose their own charging method, duration, and type of charging station to reduce waiting time and charging costs. Secondly, in terms of service experience, we should pay attention to personalization and provide differentiated service experiences based on the needs of service recipients. In the service process, attention should also be paid to details, improve the service level and user reputation of the charging station, and establish a strong brand image. By improving service quality and distinguishing the charging services of charging stations from industry standards, user stickiness is increased, thereby improving customer satisfaction. These are all beneficial insights that charging stations can draw from Starbucks' services, helping them create a personalized and branded charging service system.

5. Supporting facilities

When selecting a location, in addition to considering the above four aspects, it is also necessary to consider whether the surrounding supporting facilities are complete and whether they will have an impact on the store. As one of the most successful chain coffee brands in the world, Starbucks will consider many factors in supporting facilities, such as the surrounding environment, transportation planning, public service facilities, commercial supporting facilities, etc.

These considerations also provide a lot of inspiration for the matching of charging station site selection. First of all, we should also pay attention to the surrounding environmental factors when selecting the charging station location, and select an area with good traffic conditions, so that owners can enjoy convenient traffic conditions when charging, and improve the reach-ability of the charging station. Secondly, the location selection of charging stations should also pay attention to supporting public service facilities, such as hospitals, schools, parks, etc. This not only provides more potential customers for charging stations, but also allows car owners to have more choices during the charging process, improving the practicality of charging stations. In terms of commercial facilities, charging stations can be built in commercial areas, shopping centers, catering areas, and other locations to provide car owners with more shopping, entertainment, rest, and other options, increasing the service value of charging stations. In addition, in terms of supporting facilities, customized services that are close to user needs and characteristics can also be provided, which can increase the service position and profitability of charging stations.

After reading Starbucks' site selection method, did it provide any inspiration for your charging station site selection? What other tips do you have for site selection? Comment section comments and discussions~