Dive Brief:
- Starbucks met expectations in its fiscal forth quarter, driven by 32% growth in mobile users in United States and Canada from fourth-quarter 2014.
- The company completed the U.S. rollout of Mobile Order & Pay in September, and mobile payments drove 21% of transactions in October.
- Starbucks plans to add suggestions to its mobile app during the first half of fiscal 2016 to drive incremental sales, as well as delivery options for selected locations.
Dive Insight:
The company driving mobile payments adoption in the United States isn’t a bank, credit card, or wireless company — it’s the ubiquitous Seattle-based coffee chain, Starbucks. The chain reports that mobile payments drove 21% of transactions in October, or about 5 million transactions.
“At the intersection" of the physical and digital worlds, the company completed rollout of its Mobile Order & Pay function to 7,500 U.S. stores in September, not only improving customers’ user experience, according to an earnings call with investors, but also boosting ticket averages.
The key to Starbucks’ success? It’s already a part of a consumer routine — people rely on it for their coffee day in, day out, and a mobile app that streamlines the interaction is a natural for adoption. Similarly, companies such as Uber have earned their apps a spot on mobile phones by streamlining a frequent, repetitive transaction.
