A Mobile App Like Starbucks That Work In 2021 | Xicom

9 min readDec 8, 2020

Mobile Is Not The Future. Mobile Is Now

The more technology progresses, the more it’s guzzled down in our daily lives. Even, while reading this blog, I elude you would be surrounded with numerous internet-connected devices within your arm’s stretch.

And, as you continue to scroll down these innovative pathways, you will witness how technology becomes crucial in our daily life-the thin lines between the online world and real-life start to dim. Although restaurants and eateries make no exception, Starbucks is the strongest there in the waning restaurant industry at nonce.

So, if you are a restaurant owner dreaming of booking all the time and customers will be served quickly, this is the high time to incline for reliable app development in Dubaiand bring your dream to reality. Just have a quick insight into Starbucks, and you will observe that this is precisely what happened with this coffee brand when they launched their digital journey with a mobile app in 2011.

So, if an app like Starbuck in Dubaiis exactly what your business is looking for, here you will get every know-how on how to create one for your business.

Fasten your seat belts and let’s start.

A Piece Of Starbucks App Popularity Is Here!

Whether you agree or not, Starbucks has the most frequent used loyalty rewards app across numerous restaurant chains.

But, did you ever think about what brings customers back for more? Or, what is the reason we have chosen the Starbuck app as the excerpt for our blog.

Because, customers benefit from using the app. Some of incomparable benefits are listed below:

Flexibility to pay in-store through the mobile app.
The capability to order and pay before arriving in store.
Ability to send other members and loved one’s gift cards through the app.
Rewards and advantages: like free refills on brewed coffee and complimentary drink on a member’s birthday, probably quickly earned other tips collected from purchases, such as merchandise, drinks and food.
App integration with other platforms like Spotify to discovery music playing in-store (more of like a big part of Starbucks or generally as a coffeehouse culture).
Events for special members
First preference to members to know about the upcoming events, product releases or season.

All of the above mentioned benefits have created an intense loyalty for the app users and reward program, which skyrocket for Starbucks. Also, in a recent study, it was found that Starbucks has the most frequently used loyalty rewards app (48%) in comparison to numerous popular restaurants chains.

This upsurging popularity of Starbuck app offers users with an inevitable experience that is both inviting and innovative. Undeniably, the digital engagement has reaped significant dividends for the firm. So, here goes the four main reasons why the Starbuck app is a “must-use” and “must-have” for consumers:

Easy-to-navigate design
Interactive loyalty program
It offers a user-friendly mobile experience
Easy Mobile pay and ordering

To your surprise, the leading payment app is not Apple pay or Google pay, indeed it’s Starbucks. According to eMarketer, this will remain constant till 2022 and presently, over 23 million people will use the Starbuck app to make point of sale and purchase in minimum six months.

What’s Next?

Globally, people use the Starbuck app because it simplifies ordering, offers them new perks, is interactive, and has an intuitive design. On the contrary, Starbuck app doesn’t have a big functionality set, and it proffers only the useful features in order to keep the app lightweight and a handful of features to make it interactive.

Let’s pay attention to the key features that should be on your to-do list while creating an app like Starbucks in the UAE.

Without any further ado, let’s funnel down the entire process through a step-by-step guide and learn what it takes to create a Starbuck like app for your own brand.

The first and foremost step — “ Collecting and Analyzing Information “

The initial stage in the project development is to ask your partner app development company about the project discussion. This is crucial for keeping every stakeholder on the same page, and this can be achieved by answering some simple questions like:

The technical challenge your app will solve?
How will it be solved?
What is it’s a unique proposition?
Who is the targeted audience, their demographics, online habits, similar apps, and the list goes on?
The revenue channels you want to opt

The discovery stage most of the time revolves around brainstorming sessions where you discuss the ongoing trends, conduct market research, and how to abreast the competitive trajectory and accomplish success. Also, it consists of in-depth analysis and understanding the target audience, their requirements and preferences and figure out if there really is a demand for your app or not.

For Starbucks, there are tons of coffee lovers out in the world, and so are your competitors already starting to cater to their orders, payments, and value-added features for an unforgettable user experience.

The Next Comes — “Prototyping and Designing “

Regardless of if you want to create an app like Starbucks, or any other clone, it’s unskippable to turn a blind eye to prototyping and designing features. And, for this, you need to rely on experienced mobile app developers in Dubai to create a prototype to see how your app will function and appear aesthetically.

Keep in mind, a low-fidelity or a navigation concept will portray you with all cause-and-effect relationships between the mobile app screens. Further, it’s followed by the user experience design, which is all about precision and detailing how your user will experience and feel about the app after the usage. The user experience design is needed to build a high-fidelity end product, which is then launched to a specific audience in the market or in the organization internally, to capture feedback for its performance.

The final design stage wraps up with impeccable User Interface, detailing the visual design and aesthetics of the app you are trying your hands on.

Make Your App Exemplifies Success With Right MVP Development

The below listed features are essential from the scratch. The features of a minimum viable product form the rough sketch of your mobile app, making it self-sustaining and viable. These features are as follow:

The menu is a magnet for your app to attract customers and make them hungry.

If you open up Starbucks app or any other restaurant app, you will see mouth-watering juices, dishes, and beverages that make you instantly hungry or thirsty. Your app menu should include unique photos of what’s your best.

Like the Starbucks app, they have made their in-app menu not only flavorful but have provided information with every ingredient and order customizing options. So, to offer you a more clear picture, I have divided the different types of the menu into two major types — Additional and Must-have.

Let’s first have a look at the imperative ones:

Item descriptions with titles and images
Food catalogue with subcategories
Search feature
Customization feature (select size, include or exclude toppings)
Integration of CTA (Call To Action)

Now, let’s look at some additional features that are there in the Starbuck app too:

Nutritional information consisting of calories, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and vitamins.
Information on potential allergens
The choice to share a menu or an item description on social platforms.

Regardless of the modern trend of instant registration through social networks, customers will surely get more benefits from developing informative profiles in your app. Profiles let customers get more personalized perks and better data security together with multi-factor authentication. They also streamline rewards program tracking so users can get all the required information about how many stars they have and when they can get a free coffee according to their profile.

For instance, the leadingmobile app development companies in Dubairely on data for targeting audiences, consisting of your user’s home cities, and occupations. These insights indeed show the weakness of your targeting strategy and help you target your audience better.

Locating a store nearby is like giving yourself me time. When customers are choosing a place to eat, they keep the location as one of the key constraints. That’s why you need to integrate GPS feature in your app.

And, if you have various stores, then offer the user with the nearest location with the shortest route navigation.

If you want to make your app free from hassles integrating your app with digital payment, gateways are a must. Mobile payment is one of the main concerns why people love Starbuck app immensely.

It does not just save your time and nerves, instead allows customers to pick up orders efficiently. Although, one of the Starbuck’s innovations that made the payment process even more comfortable is it’s an e-wallet. So, make sure you opt for the best mobile app development in Dubai that makes the payment process ever easier than e-wallet.

The Starbuck e-wallet holds electronic cards to which user can easily send money from one card to another. This approach provides users without their bank cards to become members of the loyalty program, gather points and get discounts and bonuses.

Moreover, you can use the same idea if you have a lot of millennial or Gen Z customer base. However, modern users appreciate their freedom and need more choices so they can choose the payment that’s more convenient for them. That’s the path to add another credit cards and debit card payment option too.

The loyalty program is one of the decisive forces that allow Starbucks to uphold its user loyalty and client retention. A loyalty program is a dynamic tool for your business to capture and increase their client retention rate.

So, make sure your partner mobile app development company keeps your loyalty program in the centre of your app. For that, you need to provide your technology partner with the following functionalities:

Tracking Points: Make it transparent for users to see how many points/stars/bonuses or coupons they presently have and whether they can redeem or not.

Drive-In Functionality

The drive-in feature is that solves the perennial problem of long queues during the peak hours. And, if you integrate this exclusive feature, you intentionally offer your customer uttermost convenience with just a few moments to grab their bite that was already paid in advance and prepared before your arrival.

No lines, no hassle with payments, and no more unhappy clients.

But, make sure that your clients can personalize it accordingly the same way you do it in restaurants. Starbucks allows clients to get their pre-order ASAP, while Dunkin Donuts lets their customer chose the slot they want their coffee to be ready. The users of the Dunkin DOnut app can prepare food and beverages within a time frame of 24 hours.

So, you can choose either way according to your business ethics.

Pop-Up Notifications

Presently, pop-up notifications are much more essential than just a hook into the app. They are self-sufficient packages of information that provide clients with complete specific tasks. Also, it offers an unparalleled user experience and useful notifications as a real opportunity to create a bond between the customer and your app.

To be precise, the service providers for reliable app development in Dubai have a distinctive type of push notifications to retain customers, increase your convenience, amplify customer target base, track various metrics, and do much more.

To add, the most potent types are rich notifications that include videos, music, and images. Moreover, by using visual and audio content, you can make your notifications more attractive and intuitive.

Final Thoughts!

To create an app like Starbucks means crafting loyalty, mobile payment and contended partnership together all integrated into one mobile app. And, in a holistic approach, to create an

an app like Starbuck it takes 1,000 hours and approximately around $50,000 for development.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a multi-million dollar budget, get your Free Project Estimation and build consistency in everything you do.

However, partnering with the best and reliable app developers in Dubai, you get the ideal resources to fill that niche. The team at Xicom blend your idea with the right resources, follow an agile approach, and are detailed-oriented to offer the subtle difference.

Originally published at https://www.xicom.ae on December 8, 2020.