A spokesperson for Starbucks reveals to the NYT that the chain has been “accepting Apple Pay in the United Kingdom for the past few months” where it has been “received well by customers”. Best Buy was one of the first supporters of the competing MCX mobile payment. Even at retail outlets listed as accepting Apple Pay, customers often report problems with payment due to equipment difficulties, employees unfamiliar with the system or other issues. Given the popularity of Starbucks, Apple Pay availability at the chain could be a major boon for Apple.
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Apple Pay, introduced in September 2015 as part of Apple’s iPhone 6 launch, uses near-field communications (NFC), a short-range wireless technology, to send data to payment readers. A year since its debut, the payment service only accounts for 1 percent of all retail transactions in the U.S., according to researcher Aite Group.
The news seems great for Apple users as they can soon be able to pay their Starbucks, KFC and Chilli’s bills through their iPhones and smartwatches.
The Apple Pay executive went on to discuss the loyalty program, although declining to comment specifically on the Starbucks program. With Starbucks most likely updating their payment terminals due to a nationwide shift toward chip cards, adding ones that also support Apple Pay makes sense.
Starbucks will start a pilot program later this year to work Apple Pay into the mix.
It may be that shoppers weren’t given the opportunity to resort to Apple Pay because many stores still don’t support this payment method, but as recent trends indicate, this is bound to change soon.
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Apple says it had 220,000 merchants on board with Apple Pay at the beginning of the year and expects to pass 1.5 million by the end of the year. Talking to restaurant owners, she said she found that restaurant-goers spend 25 per cent of their time waiting for the check.
