Mobile payments now make up 16 percent of Starbucks purchases

The most successful smartphone transaction service is continuing to rise in popularity.

As much as Apple Pay may be holding the spotlight, at the moment, when it comes to mobile payments services, on the side of actual successes that have been proving themselves over time, Starbucks has remained at the very top of the list.

An earnings call from Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, revealed considerable data and insight.

Schultz explained that in the financial quarter that came to an end on December 28, 2014, Starbucks had more than 13 million mobile payments app users throughout the United States. This shows a rise of 1 million people from the previous quarter, when there had been just over 12 million users of that mobile application. Overall, this brought about a considerable user base for the smartphone based transactions in its store locations.

Schultz reported that 16 percent of the total transactions processed by the company were through mobile payments.

Comparatively, Apple Pay had been reporting early victories in the use of that mobile wallet at Whole Foods, where 1 percent of the sales had been processed using smartphones. Clearly, Starbucks has been able to not only create a success out of its service, but it has managed to do so in a solid way that is generating a rapid, steady increase in the number of people who are actually using it. They have managed to avoid becoming a flash in the pan gimmick and have provided their customers with a transaction method that they are happy to use on a regular basis.

In his own words, Schultz stated that “We continue to see broad customer acceptance and adoption of our mobile payment technologies,” adding that “Today in the U.S. alone, over 13 million customers were actively using our mobile apps. And we are now averaging more than 7 million mobile transactions in our stores each week—representing 16% of total tender. That’s more than any other bricks-and-mortar retailer in the marketplace.”

Starbucks isn’t planning to simply stay put with the current offerings of its mobile payments app. It now intends to roll out a smartphone based ordering service, which is already underway as a part of a trial in Portland, Oregon.