Starbucks customers can place orders ‘on command’

Starbucks is further evolving its digital customer experience.



Staring Monday, Jan. 30, Starbucks is launching a beta test for a voice messaging service that enables guests to place and pre-pay for their food and beverage orders “on command” via the Starbucks mobile iOS app and the Amazon Alexa platform. The new “My Starbucks barista” feature is an extension of Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay service, which allows customers to order and pay for their items before arriving at their store.



Using My Starbucks barista is easy: an artificial intelligence platform allows customers to speak their order into their iPhone or Alexa device the same way they would at a Starbucks location.



In addition, the company is also launching a Starbucks Reorder Skill on the popular Amazon Alexa platform. The service, which also leverages Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay technology, allows customers to order their “usual” Starbucks food and beverage items from wherever they have an activated Alexa device.



Once orders are placed, guests can make their way to the pick-up station at their preferred store to grab their prepared order.



“The Starbucks experience is built on the personal connection between our barista and customer, so everything we do in our digital ecosystem must reflect that sensibility,” said Gerri Martin-Flickinger, CTO for Starbucks. “Our team is focused on making sure that Starbucks voice ordering within our app is truly personal. Equally important was finding the right partner in Amazon to test and learn from this new capability.”



The beta test will initially be available to 1,000 customers nationwide, and the chain will continue a phased rollout through the summer. An Android version is set to follow later this year, Starbucks added.



While the company expects the two services to further extend the barista and customer relationship, Starbucks’ pre-ordering functionality is also placing new attention on order fulfillment. Specifically, pre-ordering activities doubled to 1,200 orders during Starbucks’ fiscal first quarter, which ended Jan. 1. — an issue that caused bottlenecks and some canceled orders, the chain’s COO Kevin Johnson told Reuters.



Despite the setbacks, Starbucks remains committed to its mobile app and its evolution. The company, which began offering mobile payments in 2009, now processes more than 27% of mobile transactions overall, Starbucks reported.



“These initial releases are easy to use, and provide a direct benefit to customers within their daily routine. We are confident that this is the right next step in creating convenient moments to complement our more immersive formats,” Martin-Flickinger said. “We expect to learn a lot from these experiences and to evolve them over time.”