Starbucks is on the cutting edge of retail technology with their app. If you’ve never used it, here’s why you should: It makes ordering infinitely more easy. You simply plug in your order, pay for it, walk in, grab your coffee and leave. It’s hugely successful. So successful, in fact, that it’s driving people who don’t use the app away from Starbucks.
The issue, as the company revealed on their quarterly earnings call, is that so many people are using the app, baristas are having trouble serving everybody else. Of course, this is the kind of problem most companies would punt a baby into space to have: Too much demand. But if your customers start complaining (or worse, leaving), then you’ve got an even bigger issue.
In order to combat this ‘problem,’ Starbucks plans to add baristas during peak hours. These extra employees will only work on mobile orders, freeing up the rest to deal with customers who’d rather their complicated off-menu drink at the register.
All of this raises an interesting question for food chains who a heavy take-out business: How to balance the app and the walk-in customer? It’s fairly clear from Starbucks’ success that apps cater to a huge market, but an equally huge market would rather not use them. There’s a reason even McDonalds is plugging their app. It also raises a curious question about the claims of fast food executives that technology would cost retail workers their jobs, since Starbucks’ problem is not enough employees.
(via Mashable)