Mobile order and pay apps have become standard operating procedure for morning commuters and afternoon coffee breakers alike. As the following Retail Touch Points article reports, Starbucks continues to show a strong position in this mobile payment category.
Just how popular is the Starbucks mobile app? In 2018, 23.4 million people aged 14 and above will use the app to make a POS purchase at least once every six months, according to eMarketer. That’s more than the users of today’s most popular proximity-based mobile payment apps, including:
- Apple Pay (22 million)
- Google Pay (1 million)
- Samsung Pay (9 million)
The Starbucks mobile app does have a built-in advantage in that it’s available on both iOS and Android, while usage of the other payment apps is restricted by the type of phone users have. Even so, the widespread adoption of the Starbucks app shows that if any retailer has unlocked the secret to providing a convenient and easy mobile payment experience, it’s the coffee retailer.
Starbucks has a firm grasp of mobile payments — its Mobile Order and Pay functionality within the app, which lets users order ahead of time and skip the line, represented 12% of company-operated transactions in the U.S. in Q2 2018. The coffee giant heavily integrates the app with its Rewards loyalty program, which accounts for 39% of U.S. sales.
Starbucks will continue its dominance over other mobile payments platforms through 2022, according to the eMarketer study. The current 1.4 million-user gap between Starbucks and Apple Pay will widen to 2.3 million in four years.
No surprise that latte lovers are ordering their favorite brews via mobile order and pay. The convenience, time-savings, and loyalty points are the main attractions for using a smartphone app. Watch for Starbucks mobile numbers to increase as non-loyalty members can now use the popular payment method.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Associate Director, Research Services at Mercator Advisory Group
