Starbucks

Brian Niccol's record as CEO of Chipotle will be tested as he tries to to keep the coffee chain competitive with rival digital wallets.

The Trump administration has barred the use of TikTok and WeChat inside the U.S., including a direct ban on WeChat Pay, setting up potential retaliation against U.S. companies that could interrupt international payment flows.

Much of the shift towards digital shopping and payments is likely to outlast the coronavirus pandemic, giving Starbucks an extra reason to open its incentive marketing to broader payment methods.

For Starbucks, the pandemic’s emergency workarounds are also a proving ground for a retail concept that could change the way people visit quick-serve restaurants.

With the world gripped in panic over the rapid spread of the coronavirus — and the stock market falling in response — payments companies have been left to speculate on what it all means to their operations in an increasingly global economy.

Starbucks has invested heavily in building its business and payment technology in China, so the coronavirus weighs on an otherwise strong strong earnings performance.

The winner of this next phase of development won't be an app. Instead, it will be almost invisibly woven into the DNA of the internet of things.

Starbucks’ latest innovation doesn’t include camera-driven invisible checkout and doesn’t even come from Seattle. But for rank and file retailers, it may prove even more informative than watching the progress of Amazon Go.

They’ve scrapped the newspapers and beefed up the food, but most Starbucks cafes in the U.S. don’t look all that different today than they did a decade ago. That’s about to change.

Starbucks is looking to reclaim its role as the global leader in streamlined, intuitive order-and-pay systems through machine learning technology it’s developing in-house and through a deal with restaurant-tech startup Brightloom, its new equity investment partner.