Apple Pay is beginning to establish a foothold among retailers in the US
Apple Pay is slowly gaining momentum despite the relatively large number of retailers that are simply not ready to accept mobile payments. Apple’s new payment platform is nearly a month old now and has yet to find the monumental success that Apple had hoped to see in a relatively short amount of time. Apple’s retail partners have been somewhat impressed with the payment service however, reporting an increase in mobile spending among customers.
McDonald’s reports significant growth in mobile transactions, thanks to the Apple Pay service
McDonald’s is one of the early adopters of Apple Pay, having deployed the service in 14,000 stores throughout the U.S. The company has announced that Apple Pay accounts for 50% of its mobile transactions. The number of people making payments through the service at McDonald’s stores has been growing significantly over the past few weeks. Other retailers, such as Whole Foods, have reported similar results, with Whole Foods reporting that more than 150,000 mobile transactions have been made through Apple Pay since launch.
Retailers are looking for new services they can use to effectively engage mobile consumers
Retailers have shown strong interest in mobile payments for some time, but few have made steps to engage the mobile audience in the past. With the demand for mobile-centric services on the rise, retailers have been looking for platforms they can use to accommodate this demand. Apple Pay is a relatively new service, but has managed to help retailers engage mobile consumers and an effective way.
No lack of competition for Apple Pay
Apple is competing with several other large companies that have entered into the mobile payments space with their own platforms. Google is one such company, having launched its Wallet platform in 2011. Samsung recently unveiled plans to launch its own mobile payment service, which will initially only be available in the Asian market. Several small companies also offer mobile payment services, some of which are actually more popular than those offered by their larger counterparts.
The company intends to accelerate its mobile commerce plans over the next few years, putting more emphasis on its mobile audience, but not sacrificing its traditional brick-and-mortar interests. Schultz notes that many consumers are beginning to migrate away from traditional forms of commerce, showing more favor for mobile services. In order to accommodate the changing behavior of consumers, Starbucks will be following suit.