By Phil Talbot – go to guy | mobile ordering | saavi
Now here’s a perfect example of how mobile phones can drive a company’s sales to even greater heights: Starbucks. In spite of the fact that mobile payment adoption in general is still relatively slow, Starbucks customers who are completing a purchase via smartphones have increased in numbers — carving approximately 10 percent in total sales.
Mobile Payments: Getting the Numbers In
To date, Starbucks is looking at close to four million transactions done by mobile payment weekly — a phenomenal growth compared to the two million transactions near the end of last year and three million about a month ago. These numbers represent roughly 10 percent of the giants’ total U.S. revenues, showing proof how powerful this new business tool is.
Gene Signori, a Mobiquity VP of Mobile Insights, affirms this winning formula of Starbucks as a clear proof that mobile payments “can be done right”. He further states that understanding the customers coupled with the commitment to succeed and getting the experience optimized is key to this endeavor.
Signori concluded that Starbucks, in effect, has become a trailblazer in this new technological innovation, showing other companies the way to go. Adapting various lessons — what is done right and what could go wrong — can help many business entities fast track into mobile payments and cater to their own “specific business requirements”, the Mobiquity executive added.
Rewards Membership Swells
Data on Starbuck’s mobile payment volume was updated when the coffee giant recently called up analysts to look into the company’s fiscal 2nd quarter financial results.
Also, Starbucks has reported an upsurge in its mobile apps customers reaching ten million in number. Each week an additional 80,000 new My Starbucks Rewards customer gets added to this coffee-drinking circle.
However, Starbucks is expecting to increase the number of active members in its Starbucks Reward Program from 4.5 million in 2012 to nine million by 2013.
Additionally, Starbucks card tender has translated to an excess of $3 billion sales annually.
By offering a $5 credit to all U.S. Starbucks cardholders who enroll to become a program member, the company has been able to drive sales even bigger.
The credit incentive worked like magic cornering nearly one million new registrations and resulting in nearly 500,000 mobile app downloads during the two-week promo period alone.
This US success story seems to have caught on as the coffee giant reported similar growth rates in its My Starbucks Rewards program abroad — in countries as far as China and Korea and as near as Canada.
Winning Formula
Starbucks’ winning strategy in mobile payments is a product of a loyal customer base frequenting its stores, the company’s unbending commitment to utilize mobile and laser-focus in upgrading the mobile experience.
Phil Talbot is founder of SAAVI – the mobile ordering specialists and the resident expert in mobile ordering systems. You can follow SAAVI on Facebook.
Source: Saavi Feeds
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