Retail TouchPoints: Starbucks, Disney and Guess Up The Ante With Mobile
Starbucks announced last week the launch of mobile payment in its 6,800 U.S. company-operated stores and more than 1,000 Starbucks located in Target locations. Customers can purchase items in-store with select smartphones as part of the national program, which builds on the introduction of the Starbucks Card Mobile application.
The new application allows customers to manage a Starbucks Card account, check balances, reload a card and check reward status. To make a purchase, shoppers hold the mobile device in front of a scanner on the countertop and scan the Starbucks Card Mobile App's on-screen barcode.
"Today, one in five Starbucks
transactions is made using a Starbucks Card and mobile payment will extend
the way our customers experience and use their Starbucks Card," said
Brady Brewer, VP Starbucks Card and Brand Loyalty, in a press release. "With
mobile payment, the Starbucks Card platform further elevates the customer experience
by delivering convenience, rewarding loyalty, and continuing to build an emotional
connection with our customers."
Customers loaded more than $1.5 billion on Starbucks Cards in 2010, an increase of 21 percent over 2009, driven in part by the My Starbucks Rewards program.
The news of Starbucks' rollout was announced just two weeks after the National Retail Federation's (NRF) annual convention in New York, where mobile payment was a key topic of discussion.
Other
mobile payment news:
- Usablenet has integrated with PayPal's mobile payments product, Mobile Express Checkout, to enhance payment offerings on clients' mobile web sites. Usablenet can now optimally extend PayPal's Mobile Express Checkout to mobile commerce web sites and other supported solutions, such as mobile applications, tablets, Facebook and other social media, as well as in-store kiosks.
- Newly-revamped Disney Stores are leveraging Oracle technology to facilitate mobile sales via Apple iPod Touch devices and portable printers. Store associates can look up products, print gift receipts and suspend the transaction if the customer needs to complete it at the traditional point of sale. During the holiday season, in the 40 stores that implemented mobile POS, mobile sales accounted for 15-18 percent of total sales. Disney expects to have 140 of the 200 U.S. stores outfitted with mobile POS by the 2011 holiday season.
- Guess has implemented Global Bay's mobile retail software to roll
out mobile payment capability throughout its more than 1,100-store chain
within the next 3-6 months. EVP and CIO Michael Relich at the NRF show said
the effort aligns well with the Guess brand identity, and that customers "absolutely
love" the convenience factor. "From a brand point of view I think
it is kind of cool," he said. "We're supposed to be a cool
brand and having cool technology [in our stores] helps."
Mobile payment is expected to grow to $633 billion annually by 2014, with 490 million customers using smartphones for payment, according to Generator Research.