Tag: mobile app

Mobile payments strategy preparing to launch between PayPal and Subway

| August 5, 2015

The sub sandwich chain has had a smartphone and web presence for quite a while but this will step it up.

Though Subway is far from new to the smartphone ecosystem, it is making its way into a new direction that is meant to provide enhanced transaction methods by way of mobile payments solutions.

They are now working on the launch of new options that will include integration with PayPal.

Karen Webster, the MDP CEO, has been working with the director of global payments and emerging commerce at Subway, Ken Moy, as well as the co-founder of Paydiant, Chris Gardner, in order to help to understand the way that the digital lifestyle and the healthful lifestyle are now coming together and how Subway can use this trend to benefit its customers. Among the solutions that they found was a range of new mobile payments options that include its web presence, its mobile app, and an integration with PayPal.

The goal of these mobile payments and m-commerce options is to make ordering very easy.

Subway - Mobile PaymentsThis is only the latest in a much broader strategy to incorporate the use of mobile technology into the Subway customer experience. The focus is to be able to broaden and bring together the various channels through which customers can interact with the brand and its restaurants, for a more complete, convenient, and seamless process.

According to Moy, “It’s the coming together of the healthy lifestyle Subway is known for with the digital lifestyle that consumers expect.” He went on to say that overall, customers expect that their favorite companies will be able to provide them with a “a beautiful customer and digital experience.” He stated that “we are going to need to be able to be flexible and continue to add on feature-functionality and other services to fulfill that digital promise to our customers.”

The mobile payments options are now being launched at the order.subway.com online experience as well as though its mobile app, so that there will be less friction when customers pay for their orders. PayPal is on Subway’s list of upcoming offerings and this will arrive before the close of the year.

Mobile payments reduce wait times for customers

| August 4, 2015

These technologies can help to shorten lines, which could be promising for many industries.

Typically speaking, people hate waiting in line, and the fact that new data is indicating that mobile payments could help to cut wait times in a meaningful way is starting to boost its appeal to retailers, quick service restaurants, events, and other industries.

Any brand that has a business model based on rapid service will find faster transactions attractive.

In Chicago at the recent Interactive Customer Experience Summit from Networld Media Group, a number of important brands – including MoneyGram International, Dunkin’ Donuts and Taco Bell – came together to discuss the issue of wait times and the ways in which they could improve the customer experience. In their discussions, one of the most common denominators was that mobile payments and m-commerce helped to reduce the amount of time that a customer was required to wait in order to complete their full interaction with the brand for that session.

Taco Bell found that their mobile payments app helped to improve the customer experience in a range of ways.

Mobile Payments Lower Wait TimesAt that fast food company, approximately 75 percent of all of the orders that are taken within their locations are customized. This, according to the Taco Bell Corp associate manager for operations, Veronica Luna. However, when the mobile app was introduced by the brand, what the company discovered was that customers had a tendency to add to their items instead of taking things away. Moreover, the average check amounts are higher among orders made by way of the app.

Furthermore, the company made it possible for customers to speed up their own experiences within the store. The customers who used the mobile app to place their orders were able to use that same app to check in as soon as they arrived at the location. This signaled to employees that the individual had arrived, so that they could begin filling that order and serve them as soon as possible. This reduced the amount of waiting for food prep and meant that the customer never needed to wait in line to actually place the order.

Moreover, with mobile payments, it meant that the customer simply needed to receive the order and leave, instead of needing to wait at a till to complete the transaction. This type of opportunity is starting to be seen to an increasing degree by different companies that are able to reduce the amount of time that customers have to wait while in the physical store locations.