Technology

Starbucks’ mobile app goes down

Mobile orders account for 13% of the coffee giant’s sales.
Photograph courtesy of Starbucks

The Starbucks mobile app, one of the country’s most popular pay-by-phone options, was malfunctioning during Monday’s morning rush and beyond, prompting users to take to Twitter to express their frustration.

“We are aware that some people are experiencing issues with the Starbucksapp and the Starbucks website this morning,” the coffee giant tweeted from its @starbuckshelp account around midday. “We are working diligently on a fix and hope to have you up and running shortly. Thank you so much for your patience while we get this sorted out.”

Mobile order and pay made up 13% of all Starbucks transactions in the most recent quarter, company executives announced recently.

Consumers, at least on Twitter, did not express much patience, however.

“Dude, I want my birthday reward and the app is flipping out,” one customer tweeted. “Way to rain on the b-day parade.”

“The great Starbucks app crash of 2018 has ruined my day. @Starbucks do you really expect me to stand in line like all the other peasants? I’m a gold card holder for goodness sakes!! Will justice be served?” tweeted another.

It’s too early to tell how much the outage will cost Starbucks. Many customers on Twitter said they would not be able to make purchases because they didn’t have cash or credits cards and planned to use the app to pay. Others said they wouldn’t be buying anything if they couldn’t receive their rewards stars for the purchase.

Starbucks has 15.1 million active users of its app-based loyalty rewards program, up 14% from last year.

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