Starbucks Korea debuts voice ordering through Samsung’s Bixby — Starbucks — “Bixby allows My Starbucks Rewards customers in South Korea to place an order and pay through voice recognition ‘on command’. The feature allows customers to speak just as if they were talking to a barista in-store, including modifying their beverage to meet their personal preference… These features are an extension of Starbucks Siren Order, the company’s mobile order and pay technology, which allows customers in South Korea to order and pay for their purchases before arriving at their store.”
PayPal leads mobile wallet rankings as users forecast to pass 2bn next year — Juniper Research — “Nearly 2.1 billion consumers worldwide will use a mobile wallet to make a payment or send money in 2019, up by nearly 30% on the 1.6 billion recorded at the end of 2017… The report also argued that while QR code-based in-store payments had seen quite astonishing levels of adoption in China, successful use cases in Europe and North America were likely to be limited to ‘closed loop’ wallets such as those deployed by Starbucks and Walmart.”
Starbucks to test cashless stores in S Korea — Yonhap News — “Starbucks Coffee Korea Co, the local unit of the US coffee giant, said Thursday it will begin a test run of cashless stores at three outlets next month amid rising use of credit card and mobile payment systems… It will mark the second trial for the global coffee giant, following its first cashless store under test run in Seattle.”
Starbucks’ Schultz: Blockchain and digital currencies are bringing us into a new age — Yahoo Finance — “I believe that we are heading into a new age, in which blockchain technology is going to provide a significant level of a digital currency that is going to have a consumer application… We think we have something to offer the companies that are chasing this because we are in a position to create the trusted legitimate place in which this could be accepted and possibly take advantage of the mobile payment digital platform that we have created.”
Starbucks tests no-cash policy at downtown Seattle store — Seattle Times — “Starbucks is experimenting with refusing cash at a posh location in downtown Seattle… ‘The test will help us understand how cashless forms of payment may impact our customer experience,’ the spokeswoman said.”
Starbucks now lets you reload store cards with Apple Pay on Apple Watch — 9to5Mac — “Starting today you can reload your Starbucks Card using Apple Pay right on the Apple Watch. Paying with your Starbucks Card was previously supported but… reloading required using the iPhone app.”
Fitness wearable maker Fitbit has launched Ionic, a smartwatch that will combine health and fitness functions with the ability to make contactless Visa, Mastercard and American Express payments as well as payments using the wearer’s Starbucks Card account... More
Google has launched its Android Pay mobile payments service in Russia, allowing those with eligible Visa and Mastercard credit or debit cards issued from 15 supporting banks and financial institutions to make in-store and in-app payments using their compatible mobile devices. More
Apple Pay has launched in Taiwan with support from Mastercard, Visa and seven banks including Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Cathay United Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, CTBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Union Bank of Taiwan. More
Starbucks customers across the US will soon be able to purchase gift cards using Apple Pay and send them to friends and family within Apple’s iMessage platform. The move comes as the coffee giant reveals it now has approximately nine million mobile paying customers with one in three using Mobile Order & Pay, which accounted for 8% of all transactions made across US stores last month. More
Starbucks customers in India can now use their phones to pay for orders and earn loyalty program ‘Stars’ following the launch of the Starbucks India app... More
Nearly 20% of US smartphone owners have used a mobile payment app at a retail location, research released by Parks Associates shows... More
Senior executives from Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Barclaycard, Swatch and CaixaBank are among 12 leading payments innovators who have contributed to What’s New in Payments, a 104-page special report that is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
US consumers can now place orders from coffee giant Starbucks by speaking into the Starbucks iOS mobile app or to Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. The move comes as the company reveals that mobile orders made up 7% of all its US transactions in the last quarter, with mobile payments now accounting for 27%. More
The number of monthly US Apple Pay credit card transactions conducted in-app, online and at the in-store point of sale grew by 50% between December 2015 and December 2016, research released by consumer spending analytics portal TXN reveals, with mobile apps and websites attracting the highest proportion of transactions... More
Customers at about 2,500 Starbucks locations across mainland China can now make mobile payments using Chinese internet giant Tencent’s WeChat Pay mobile payments platform by scanning a QR code at the point of sale... More
Customers at coffee chain Starbucks in Indonesia can now make mobile payments at 260 stores nationwide by scanning a barcode at the point of sale using the company’s mobile app and completing the payment using a registered Starbucks Card... More
Chase Pay has launched across 7,500 Starbucks and nearly 1,400 Best Buy locations across the US, allowing shoppers to make payments by scanning a QR code at the point of sale... More
Android Pay has begun rolling out across Poland, allowing consumers with compatible devices to make payments at more than 400,000 retail locations in the country that accept contactless payments... More
The value of mobile payment transactions made in the US is expected to rise 183.3% this year to US$27.67bn, more than doubling next year and reaching US$314.13bn by the year 2020, research released by eMarketer reveals... More
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