Starbucks expands Mobile Order & Pay Service in 7,500 cafes in U.S.

Starbucks Corp announced on September 22 that its successful Mobile Order & Pay service is now offered in all its almost 7,500 US shops.

According to Reuters, this goal is achieved three months earlier than expected. Some additional 3,400 cafes will get the new online service. These cafes are located in notable cities such as San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Boston.

Tech Crunch writes that Mobile Order & Pay service gives customers an alternative to standing in line waiting to order in the store. It is a simple, touch-based technology that allows users to select food and beverage from an in-app menu.

The app can automatically choose the nearest store, or the user can choose the preferred store. The user can then pay through the Starbucks card. These cards can be reloaded through the app using saved payment card or Apple Pay.

Venture Beat reported that Mobile Order & Pay service was first launched in Portland, Oregon December 2014. Now, it is spreading all across the nation. Starbucks also announced that the app will soon be available in UK and Canada by next month.

The app will automatically choose the closest Starbucks outlet as the user orders. This idea was first introduced in 2012 in La Boulange, a store in San Francisco acquired by Starbucks.

Mobile Order & Pay now has a total of 16 million users on Android and Apple devices in the US. Currently, the app is only available in-store to pay for orders. The new service basically allows the user to order in a remote location and collect the order at the store.

Starbucks chief digital officer Adam Brotman, said they refined a lot of different features before pushing through with the expansion. Those corrections allow users to customize their orders, check the availability of products in the local inventory, and determine the accurate pick-up time.

Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in July that the Mobile Order & Pay was bringing in sales and profit at some 4,000 cafes in the US. He said this could be attractive among customers who are fed up with standing in line to order in their stores.