Starbucks expands its US mobile payment app

Starbucks is expanding its payment app that allows customers to order and purchase beverages in advance to 3,400 branches in 21 new states.

The app, called Mobile Order & Pay, will allow its users to bypass the rush-hour queues by pre-ordering and pre-paying for their drink and simply picking it up from the barista when they arrive at the store.

Mobile Order & Pay started out as a pilot programme in Portland in December 2014, before being rolled out in the Pacific North-West region in March 2015. With the most recent expansion states such as California, Florida and Texas will be able to use the application.

“We can have fairly long lines in the morning and it’s such an awesome option for customers looking to run in and out if they’re running late,” said  Jesse Wenkoff-White, a Starbucks store manager in Seattle.

Using the application is fairly straight forward. By tapping “Order” at the top of the screen, you can then select the food and beverages you want to personalise and order. You then select the store you want to pick it up from.

There is also a handy feature that tells you how long you have to wait for the beverages.

However, for the time being the app is only available on iPhones, but Starbucks says it is planning to unveil an Android app later in the year.

The company has not yet released adoption figures for the application or the amount of money spent on it, but it will probably release the figures once the rollout is fully implemented.

There is no news on when the pre-ordering and pre-paying app will make it across the Atlantic, but at the rate Starbucks is rolling it out in the US, it could be sooner rather than later.

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