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Starbucks reported a “banner” quarter for its smartphone feature that lets customers order coffee and food ahead of time and skip the line in stores. In fact, the feature is doing so well that it’s clogging pick-up areas and forcing the company to consider revamping store layouts.
[...] Mobile ordering was a bright spot in the Seattle-based coffee giant’s earnings report. Starbucks posted Q1 2017 earnings of $0.52 per share, which met expectations, and $5.73 billion in quarterly revenue, which was up 7 percent year-over-year but missed estimates and sent shares down nearly 5 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Mobile Order & Pay (MOP), the company’s smartphone app feature that launched in 2015 and lets customers skip the line by ordering in advance, represented 7 percent of the company’s U.S. transactions in the most recent quarter. That’s up 3 percent [from] the prior year and 1 percent from the previous quarter.
[...] There were 1,200 stores in the U.S. that saw more than 20 percent of transaction volume come from MOP during peak hours; that’s up from 600 stores in the prior quarter.
The significant uptick in usage is causing in-store congestion issues for MOP customers trying to pick up their order at hand-off stations. This problem not only affects customers who are picking up items, but also potential customers who may notice the in-store traffic and end up not purchasing anything, Johnson [Starbucks CEO] explained.
Source: GeekWire
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @06:24PM
First I can never get a seat there because of the douchebags camping out with their laptops, but now it will be a pain to pick up my order because of the douchebags clogging the store while staring at their phones.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Grishnakh on Friday January 27 2017, @06:33PM
First I can never get a seat there because of the douchebags camping out with their laptops
Coffee shops aren't restaurants; the entire point of going to one is to sit down and relax for a while, not to get in and out as fast as you can. If coffee shops don't like that, they shouldn't have seats at all; they should just have a walk-up counter, or a drive-through.
The problem with Starbucks is that their stores are always far too small for the number of customers, so they're always horribly crowded.
My advice: skip Starbucks. Their stores are small and suck, and their product is overpriced, poorly-made garbage. Go instead to Panera Bread, or a locally-owned coffee shop if you have any. Panera has coffee and drinks, plus real food too (not just some stupid snacks), and they usually have plenty of seating space so you can camp out for a while with your laptop without anyone hassling you. They also have better prices.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @06:40PM
This Soyvertisement is brought to you by Grishnakh, and Panera Bread! And by Online For-profit University [youtube.com], coming to a coffee house or Panera Bread space near you!
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday January 27 2017, @06:44PM
The Panera near me has these ipads you can order from. So you can order, swipe your card, grab your coffee cup, fill up, and go enjoy. Most of the time for coffee it's like you said, the local shop is best. Starbucks sucks unless you're after one of those dessert coffees with whip cream and chocolate sprinkles. I see a lot of people get that stuff.
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(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Friday January 27 2017, @06:50PM
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday January 27 2017, @08:37PM
I agree. Even a decent gas station has better coffee, imo.
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(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday January 27 2017, @07:04PM
Panera also has on-line ordering; you can just order and pay straight from your phone and then pick it up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28 2017, @02:35AM
Mmmm, whipped cream and chocolate spriiinklesss. Awwgagagalala
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @07:00PM
But when someone sees me with my laptop at Panera, they assume I'm only reading email or something because the booths don't let people view you very well, while at Starbucks, they can see that I'm obviously working on my awesome screenplay.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Uncle_Al on Friday January 27 2017, @07:04PM
..in Ogallala, NE
(Score: 3, Funny) by EvilSS on Friday January 27 2017, @08:01PM
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday January 27 2017, @10:36PM
The glowing Apple logo on a laptop is usually enough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28 2017, @03:04PM
I thought that was the sign for anonymous gay sex in the restroom.