Starbucks, the coffee giant has decided to team up with Square in order to accelerate mobile payments in a groundbreaking partnership in order to further stimulate small business growth, while attempting to enhance the payment experience for millions of customers. Amidst the partnership terms will include the ability for customers to pay using Square, Square’s payer application. This will happen later this fall, and you will be able to pick up the nearest Starbucks locations within the Square Directory.
Square will go ahead and process Starbucks U.S. credit and debit card transactions, and this will significantly expand Square’s scale and accelerate the benefits to businesses on the Square platform. It might just help small businesses, while assisting Starbucks in reducing their payment processing costs. Approximately 7,000 Starbucks stores will participate in this partnership.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and CEO, said, “As the largest retail mobile payment platform in the U.S., we’re excited and proud to accept payments with Square. The evolving social and digital media platforms and highly innovative and relevant payment capabilities are causing seismic changes in consumer behavior and creating equally disruptive opportunities for business. Both Starbucks and Square take a similar approach when building products and running our businesses, and together we can bring the best possible payment experience to Starbucks customers.” [Press Release]