Will Starbucks help Apple Pay take off?

Several new retailers will soon start accepting Apple Pay.

It was announced recently that Starbucks is among several new retailers that will soon start accepting Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments system. In addition, Best Buy, KFC and Chili’s are also rolling out Apple Pay support.  

Starbucks will be testing out Apple Pay at a handful of locations before rolling it out on a wider scale. The coffee giant already offers a very popular mobile payments app of its own with it's loyalty program, and a recent update added the option to order and pay for beverages before arriving at a Starbucks location. No word yet on if Apple Pay will support Starbucks’ loyalty program..

Currently, Apple Pay is already available at retailers including Whole Foods, Subway, Walgreens, and McDonalds. But Apple Pay's adoption rate has not been as popular as they envisioned, so with this recent addition by Starbucks and the others, the hope is users will grow considerably.  

Mobile payments in general have had a slow response from shoppers everywhere. An earlier study by marketing firm Placeable found that just 9 percent of consumers use a mobile payment when it’s available. What’s more, a whopping 42 percent of Americans have not made a single purchase on their phone. 70 percent of survey respondents reported trusting mobile payments, “they just don’t see a reason to use them.” The study says that “Smartphones may be an essential part of modern life, but consumers’ purchasing habits have been slow to adapt.”

However, as retailers especially retail giants like Starbucks, continue to add apple pay and mobile payments into their system, consumer may adapt a little quicker and a pick up on the trend at a faster pace. With this in mind, supermarkets should too be looking at options for mobile payments. As consumers continue to evolve and fast paced, mobile options continue to grow, supermarkets must make sure that they too are keeping up with habits and do not get left behind.