Satisfy Chili’s, KFC and Starbucks Cravings with Apple Pay in 2016
If it’s still kind of seeming like Apple Pay just doesn’t go as far as it should, there’s some good news afoot for you today.
By the end of 2016, Apple Pay will be valid in plenty more places, including two major food chains—Chili’s and KFC—and the titan of coffeehouses, Starbucks. The word came out of the Code Mobile conference, straight out of Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey.
Bailey’s remarks noted that Starbucks would likely start up first, with some stores getting access to a pilot program featuring Apple Pay payments, and then Starbucks-owned franchises would get in next. That would bring the total to around 7,500 total, so chances are there’s one near you somewhere.
Next out of the block, perhaps surprisingly, would be KFC in the spring, followed by Chili’s at some point in 2016. The Chili’s version would feature “pay at the table” options, allowing users to do just as the name suggests.
What was particularly interesting was that, while some reports suggest that mobile payments are somewhat lagging in terms of acceptance in the field, Bailey notes that Apple Pay users are quite active. Indeed, around 80 percent of those who actually use Apple Pay put it to use quite often. Bailey even went so far as to describe a “sea change” in terms of merchant acceptance.
This is actually somewhat at odds with earlier reports suggesting that Apple Pay has been languishing in the market in its first year of operations. The Aite Group recently reported that Apple Pay is used in one percent of all retail transactions in the United States, and individual merchants report that usage is tepid at best.
Panera Bread noted that Apple Pay represents a percentage of transactions measured the “low single digits,” and Firehouse Subs noted it represented about two percent of all transactions.
What could account for this, of course, is a bit of semantics. While indeed, Apple Pay users might be particularly active, there may not be all that many Apple Pay users to consider in the first place. Consider that Apple Pay use requires an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus—iPhone 5, 5C and 5S users need to have an Apple Watch to accompany the devices to use Apple Pay—and this in turn may be limiting the overall size of the market that can put Apple Pay to work. So indeed, the majority of Apple Pay users might be very active, but there may not be that many active users to put much punch in the market.
It’s going to be interesting to see if Android Pay and Samsung Pay have more of an impact in the field, or if the same concerns that hit Apple Pay will hit these two as well. Still, though, one thing is clear: the mobile payments field is a huge and dynamic place, so we’ll likely see plenty of change to come before it’s all said and done.