M-commerce strategy details released by Starbucks

The coffee giant has been dropping hints about expansion into grocery stores.

As mobile payments are still playing a central role in the growth of the transactions occurring at Starbucks, the Seattle based company is now considering various m-commerce opportunities to broaden its strategies, which may include expanding into grocery stores.

The company’s CEO, Howard Schultz, explained a number of the company’s intentions for the future.

Schultz raised these points during a conference call that was held between himself and a number of analysts, in order to discuss the results of the merchants fiscal first quarter. He explained that the ongoing success and growth of the m-commerce business and other mobile initiatives at Starbucks were an important factor in the quarter.

At the moment m-commerce represents 20 percent of the payment card transactions at Starbucks.

In response to one of the m-commerce questions posed by an analyst, Schultz also hinted at the company’s intentions to broaden the card into the areas of grocery and consumer packaged goods. He stated that “Over the next few months or so, we’ll be coming back to you and sharing with you the plans that we have to take advantage of Starbucks products within CPG, and specifically grocery, and leveraging the technology and the advancement of providing value to our customers that are buying Starbucks products in grocery, and leveraging the card.”

That said, he also pointed out that he did not intend to “get into too much specificity” during that phone call. His intention was to express that Starbucks would be offering additional incentives and m-commerce options for consumers to not only purchase their coffee, but also to provide greater depth of the integration into the Starbucks ecosystem through their mobile devices and card loyalty.

While the company has already undergone considerable expansion to its m-commerce, it clearly has no intention of simply sitting back and remaining the same now that their mobile success has been established. They are continually monitoring, innovating, and evolving the opportunities that they present to their customers, from the ability to make mobile payments in the first place, to a growing range of methods that can be used in that light.