Two Key Initiatives Which Can Drive Sales For Starbucks

Starbucks‘ (NYSE:SBUX) Mobile Order & Pay app has been immensely successful, leading to higher volumes through the convenient app. However, this success has been causing some congestion at its stores, and long lines of customers waiting to pick up their orders (placed via the app) have actually been driving some customers away. The company partially attributed its slower comparable sales in Q1 2017 to this issue. (Read Here’s How The Success Of Mobile Order and Pay Is Negatively Impacting Starbucks)  However, Starbucks is working aggressively to resolve this issue, and it appears that the company has found a solution: it has started sending text notifications to customers when their orders are ready in order to reduce the congestion at the pick-up point. While this adds a step to the order process on the app, it is likely to reduce store congestion to an extent. The company is also considering other measures, such as adding more employees to its stores and redesigning the store layout to resolve the congestion issue. As Starbucks looks to address this issue swiftly, the mobile app can become a key driver of sales for the company. Through the convenience of the app and shorter wait times, Starbucks can serve more customers in its stores, thereby driving revenue growth going forward.