Starbucks to enable mobile 'digital tip'

Mobile continues to play a major role for the Starbucks coffee chain. Recent announcements prove its success and reveal how the company plans to further expand their mobile offering.

by Helen Leggatt

More than 70 million mobile payments have been processed by Starbucks since the launch of its mobile payments option at the start of 2011. That figure is sure to rise dramatically with two new features planned.

As of next month, Starbucks will integrate Square on the Starbucks app. This will allow customers to not only pay via Square but also to use the directory to find a store.

The company's mobile app has also been integrated into Apple's Passbook feature. This will bring up a customer's Starbucks loyalty card on entering a store.

Next year Starbucks is taking its mobile payments system one step further when it allows store visitors to show their satisfaction at point-of-sale. Planned to launch in the summer of 2013, the 'digital tip' function will allow customers to financially reward deserving baristas.

According to data from IDC Financial Insights' latest Consumer Payments Survey, over a third (35%) of Americans have used their mobile device to make a purchase, up from 19% the previous year.

IDC found that mobile apps were used for most mobile payments with almost half of those who had made a point-of-sale purchase using one, far more than had used contactless methods or SMS.

Tags: m-commerce, mobile app, mobile commerce, mobile marketing, mobile payments, mobile phone, smartphone, Starbucks