Starbucks: Mobile App Now Used in 14% of U.S. Payments

Starbucks now gets 14% of its in-store U.S. payments from its mobile app, the company reported at its annual shareholder meeting today.

This indicates a steady increase in mobile payment adoption since June 2013, when Starbucks reported it received 10% of U.S. payments through its mobile app.

Starbucks, one of the few runaway success stories in mobile payments, is releasing an update to its iPhone app this week to add functions like tipping and a shake-to-pay feature. The Seattle company's CEO, Howard Schultz, handed over many of his responsibilities in January to COO Troy Alstead, freeing up Schultz to devote more of his attention to expanding Starbucks' mobile payment capabilities.

The Starbucks app allows consumers with a prepaid Starbucks Card to manage and reload the account from a smartphone. The app can also display a bar code, which baristas scan to accept payments at the point of sale. Starbucks added 1.5 million new Starbucks Card users during the 2013 holiday season.

The app also provides access to Starbucks' loyalty program, and more than 25% of all Starbucks transactions are made by consumers enrolled in this program, Starbucks said today in a press release.

Starbucks also plans to add a mobile-ordering feature in a later update.