Starbucks launches don't-wait-for-your-frap app across USA

Aamer Madhani | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Starbucks takes sales-boosting Mobile Order & Pay nationwide Starbucks Corp on Tuesday said it is now offering its sales-boosting Mobile Order & Pay service in all of its more than 7,400 U.S. company-operated shops, completing its nationwide roll-out about three months ahead of schedule. The expansion include

Starbucks says its customers will now be able to use a mobile order and pay app at nearly 7,400 of its stores in the U.S., setting the table for the company to turn its attention to delivery.

The mobile order and pay app, which was expanded from the Pacific Northwest to about 4,000 stores in 22 states in June, was initially slated to be rolled out across the country near the end of the year. But after seeing early success and growing customer demand, Starbucks accelerated the national release of the app.

The Seattle-based company, which says mobile payment counts for more than 20% of its sales, will also launch the order and payment app for Android users on Tuesday. The app had only been available for iPhone in the early markets.

Company officials won’t break down the number of customers that have been ordering ahead of time via the app in the early markets but says they have seen an increase in sales in stores with mobile ordering capability as a result of an increased number of customer visits.

“Similar to the way our customers had exposure to mobile payment and the rewards program baked in before and made it possible for us to do mobile order, now mobile order will make it much easier for us to do delivery,” Dan Beranek, Starbucks director of digital ventures, said in an interview at a busy store in Chicago, one of several big markets where the app will be launched on Tuesday. “That is the next set of innovation we will undertake.”

Starbucks was one of the quick service restaurant industry’s early adopters of mobile payment—they begin testing with mobile barcode sales in 2010cq—and first tested the mobile ordering and payment app in Portland, Ore., late last year.

They aren’t the only ones looking to beef up mobile sales. Pizza chains Domino’s and Pizza Hut were early adopters of mobile payment. Domino’s, the nation’s second biggest pizza chain, even allows customers to order by Twitter and text message, and recently introduced “Dom,” a phone app that allows you to order by voice.

Officials with Taco Bell, which has a huge Millennial audience, told an investors conference earlier this year that their mobile app customers were spending more than those who made their order through a human cashier—bulking up their ticket with add-ons like sour cream and nacho cheese.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has made clear that he sees mobile ordering as a segue for the coffee company into delivery service. The company announced earlier this year that it would begin testing delivery service late in 2015 with Postmates in Seattle and another service at New York's Empire State Building called Green Apron.

In July, Starbucks also announced a multi-year deal with the San Francisco-based rideshare service Lyft in which riders can earn reward points, or “stars,” in Starbucks loyalty program for fare purchases with Lyft. The partnership with Lyft could eventually evolve into one where drivers for the rideshare service deliver Starbucks food and beverages, Schultz said.

Beranek also said Starbucks has seen an increase in customer satisfaction in markets where the app has already been unveiled.

Once you make your order on the app, a ticket with the order prints at the Starbucks cash register you selected (the app automatically directs you to the closest location, but a customer can manually choose another store he or she prefers.)

Mobile customers skip having to pay at the counter and pick up their orders directly from the baristas. The app informs customers approximately how long it will take for the order to be prepared.

Because customers are selecting any specifications for a drink orders through their app, such as if they want their latte extra hot or a dash of sea salt on their Pumpkin Spice Latte, there are fewer errors with mobile orders.

The app also makes it far less likely that baristas will mangle a customer’s name—something that Beranek joked he might miss a little.

As Starbucks baristas customarily do, they call out the mobile customers’ names when their orders are ready. They also specify when an order is a “mobile order”—a practice that Beranek says informs customers who placed their order the old-fashioned way why that customer who just walked in the door skipped the line.

“The customers want convenience,” Beranek said. “They want time for Starbucks when they otherwise wouldn’t have it. We’re going to find a way to meet that need.”