The coffee chain Starbucks processes around 47 million transactions each week in its 12,000 US stores, news.yahoo.com reports.
According to the source, 7 million of those purchases (around 15%) are made with the
Starbucks testing mobile ordering and payment ahead of nationwide rollout next year
Starbucks mobile application. The mobile app, which has been available for several years, is part of Starbucks’ loyalty program. With each purchase, customers receive stars (a sort of points system) that can eventually be redeemed for free drinks after enough purchases have been made.
Customers place their order with a bartender, open the app on their phone, tap “Pay,” and then wave the phone (with a barcode displayed) at a reader by the cash register.
Starbucks is looking to streamline the process even further by removing most of the interaction between customer and bartender. With an enhanced feature called “Mobile Order & Pay,” Starbucks hopes to enable customers to place an order on their mobile device and pay for it before they enter the local coffee shop.
In the app, a new “Order” tab will appear once the service rolls out in their area. It will first launch in Portland, Oregon and then city-by-city across the US throughout 2015.
Eventually, Starbucks plans to provide a delivery service as well, with orders coming from local Starbucks locations. Starbucks even plans dedicated delivery kitchens in locations like big office buildings. Delivery is supposed to begin rolling out later on in H2 2015.
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