The Bank of Starbucks. Ok, so I have to come clean right off the bat – I’m addicted to the Starbucks app. I love its ease. I love the pay directly from my phone thing and not dealing with actual money – note to brands – most people do! And… I love how instantaneous the rewards program is, even though it means I must keep resisting the Caramel Waffle Cone Frappuccino they’re offering. In truth, I’m more of a craft coffee person, but the Starbucks app is just soooo compelling that I sometimes find myself frequenting a Starbucks just to use it. Am I in the minority? According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, I’m not – as Starbucks apparently has $1.2 billion (yes – billion with a b) loaded onto Starbucks cards and their mobile app! Starbucks reports that 41% of transactions in both Canada and the U.S. (24% with the mobile app) are conducted this way.

So why is this trend so remarkable? Because $1.2 billion exceeds the deposits at many “actual” banks and financial intuitions. Starbucks Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman says, “That’s just the beginning of the story, as over 10% of all orders at our busiest stores are made through mobile order and pay. Drilling into that further, for those 300 busiest stores, mobile ordering approaches 20% during peak hours – meeting or beating all company expectations.”

So brands take heed (and take a page out of the Starbucks playbook) when you’re talking about how hard it is to make a profit using mobile apps. Starbucks is not only controlling a massive amount of money, but their loyalty and traction are off the charts. If you’d like to read a little more on the numbers, click on the link below. And just in case you don’t have the Starbucks app on your phone and want to see what all the fuss is about, we’ve included the download link as well. Happy caffeinating…

MarketWatch – Starbucks has more customer money on cards than many banks have in deposits

Some people keep their money in banks. Some keep cash beneath a mattress. Now there’s another place that people are depositing their money: their Starbucks accounts.

Starbucks – If you don’t have it already and want this addictive app in your pocket – Download it here