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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: 3, Touché) by snufu on Friday January 27 2017, @09:00PM
Being seen in line at Starbucks is the whole point of conspicuous food consumption. What's the point of paying five dollars for a cup of coffee if I can't show it off? "One latte please, no foam, extra self-esteem."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 28 2017, @12:50AM
Nobody likes waiting in line. People like to make fun of younger people for being impatient and having short attention spans, but they are by far the friendliest to the baristas because there's more relatability between the two.
Now, the baby-boomers who frequent Starbucks, total fucking assholes. Bitchy, impatient, Prius-or-BMW-driving-depending-on-the-day-of-the-week, badmouthing those around them out loud, 52 of age but conversing like 16 year-olds. They'll make the barista make them a new drink if the cherry-tomato-sized dollop of whip cream was too large and the coffee wasn't served at exactly 105.2 degrees F -- before asking to speak to the manager. They double-park where space is limited, walk obnoxious yappy dogs, are made from daddy's money and connections, and follow hipster fashion-fads even though they're way too disturbingly old for it.
Yep, Starbucks. Not the best, but better than the cardboard-tasting shit from 7-11.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Saturday January 28 2017, @03:28PM
Funny you mention that. I tried living in San Diego for a year (2011), but didn't really fit in with the culture there. I usually describe it as there being two kinds of people in San Diego - Prius drivers and BMW drivers; and I drive a Dodge. But cost of living was also a factor in my moving away. The substantial raise I got for moving out there still wasn't enough in the long run.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday January 30 2017, @04:47PM
Now, the baby-boomers who frequent Starbucks, total fucking assholes. Bitchy, impatient, Prius-or-BMW-driving-depending-on-the-day-of-the-week, badmouthing those around them out loud, 52 of age but conversing like 16 year-olds.
I think you're onto something here, but I think it's a lot bigger than just Starbucks customers. I think this describes a very large part of this demographic, across the US.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28 2017, @03:09PM
The point of it is that it's everywhere. They got the procedure down to the point where it's generally fast, easy and lacking in personality. As much as people whine about the cost, the pricing structure isn't any different from any of the other coffee shops I've gone to over the last 20 years.
Also, a lot of people for one reason or another can't make their own coffee at home. Where I'm living, I'm sure that the noise of the machine would cause complaints if I had one to use during the parts of the day where having coffee makes sense.
OTOH, it was good of you to not bother us about how you don't own a TV and only listen to NPR. That on top of the elitism about not going to Starbucks would have been too much. Now, there's at least some question about whether you're an asshole or a douche.