Starbucks continues mobile payments growth
Mobile payments accounted for 15 percent of Starbucks' total U.S. revenue, the coffee giant said Thursday during its third quarter earnings call.
CEO Howard Schultz told investors during the call that there are 12 million mobile app users in the U.S. and Canada. That figure is up 2 million from the company's Q2 earnings report. Starbucks processed six million (up one million from Q2) mobile transactions per week in the U.S. during the third quarter, which ended June 29.
Schultz revealed during the call that Starbucks will test an order ahead-and-pay feature in its app during the fourth quarter in a major U.S. city.
Starbucks did not reveal much more about prior comments about white-labeling its mobile app and loyalty program to other retailers. Matt Ryan, global chief strategy officer for Starbucks, said that the company is in a series of active conversations with tech partners about such a program but did not go into details.
"We have absolute confidence in the nature of the opportunity" with Starbucks' mobile and loyalty programs, he said in response to an analyst's question.