Starbucks Debuts Mobile App In India

Thursday, March 23, 2017

To many, it was a disturbing notion: why was Starbucks taking so long to bring its wildly successful mobile app to its fastest-growing market, India? Almost every day that went by made people only wonder more just what was going on. New word says that it’s finally landing, though, and bringing with it many of the same features that made the original great.

Not only does it incorporate the mobile payments feature that was widely enjoyed in much of the rest of the world, but users can also enjoy the “Stars” system, Starbucks’ rewards program, every time they make a purchase. Users will have access to redeeming offers as well as store locator options, along with both the Scan to Pay and Shake to Pay options.

Sadly, users won’t be able to feed their Starbucks wallet from a mobile wallet, rather only from banks, at least for the time being. Essentially, as noted by Tata Starbucks CEO Sumitro Ghosh—Starbucks’ Indian operations are actually part of a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages—the Starbucks app is effectively a mobile wallet, and as such, is being treated like one. That’s an odd distinction to make, but one that’s within their prerogative to make.

Source: Payment Week (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Technology
Tags
financial inclusion, fintech