Global coffee company Starbucks has confirmed its new plans to allow customers to place their order before entering the store.
Global coffee company Starbucks has confirmed its new plans to allow customers to place their order before entering the store. As attractive as this proposed system sounds, one can’t help but feel that there are some potential issues that will have to be ironed out before its implementation.
Coffee culture
The new ‘coffee culture’, most evident from the busiest part of London to university campuses across the UK, will be fed by this innovation from Starbucks. With students and working people always on the move, the potential convenience of this service may even increase sales.
There is a feeling that ‘mobile ordering’ is something that has been waiting to happen, as Starbucks prides itself in providing a quick and convenient service for its customers. With Starbucks being more popular with morning people, these plans will be best placed if they focus on increasing their speed of service.
Potential problems
Speaking in response to Starbucks’ recent increased focus on serving food, spokeswoman Linda Mills commented in response to mobile ordering potentially slowing down service in Starbucks stores: “We’re definitely looking to increase the speed of our lines.”
This was in response to the possibility of the preparation of food slowing down service in Starbucks stores. Though this is possible, the increased serving of food in Starbucks gives more reason to introduce a faster way of ordering.
Customers will now be able to use Starbucks’s mobile app to order coffee and pick it up later. Some will be happy to know that this will effectively eradicate the awkward moment when the barista spells your name wrong when labelling your cup.
As innovative as mobile ordering sounds, can it really increase in-store efficiency by reducing queuing time? It is not very pleasing to wait in line for a ridiculous amount of time just to pick up an overpriced coffee, which you thought would get to you much quicker. Yes, I did mention overpriced, which has always been an unappealing aspect of Starbucks.
Chargeable services
This leads on nicely to the potential of mobile ordering being a chargeable service. If it turns out to be, the tax-avoiding company will make even more profits in addition to its already substantial margins. Pre-ordering is a service which should, as the case with other companies, be a free service but I would not put it behind the coffee giants to use this as an opportunity to get more of our hard-earned cash.
We cannot get away from the fact that the world is moving quicker than ever in our current day and age. With people being busier these days, the implementation of Starbucks’ mobile ordering service may be a necessary move – one that needs to be executed with care and precision.
Do you think Starbucks is onto a winner with this new idea? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo: kevinix / Flickr
