Soon you might be able to order your morning macchiato while still sitting in bed.
Starbucks announced that it is “actively working” on mobile ordering, which would let people order before stepping foot in a coffee shop or while waiting in line, chief digital officer Adam Brotman told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
This comes a day after Starbucks announced that it would let customers tip their baristas via the company’s mobile payment app. It also unveiled a new “shake-to-pay” feature that will let users bring up their Starbucks barcode by simply giving their phone a good shake. Both features will be available for iPhone users starting on March 19 in the U.K., United States and Canada.
Mobile payments are big business for Starbucks. More than 11 percent of its weekly transactions happen with mobile devices, Brotman said in a press release yesterday.
The ability to pre-order drinks and food could add more incentive for customers to download the Starbucks app. Brotman told Bloomberg that the company would test mobile ordering later this year, but that Starbucks was not “revealing a lot of details about it now.”
The Seattle-based company has some catching up to do. Pizza chains have generally been ahead of the curve when it comes to mobile ordering, with Papa John’s, Domino’s and Pizza Hut offering the ability to order pizza with a few taps.
Meanwhile other chains, most notably McDonald’s, still don’t allow their customers to order from their phones. Taco Bell announced last month that it would launch a mobile ordering app later this year.
