Dunkin' Donuts Is Trying to Mirror Starbucks' Success With Its Own Popular Mobile Payments App

Dunkin' Donuts has its own Starbucks-style phone app that can be used to rack up loyalty points and pay in stores, and it has enjoyed some considerable success, according to new numbers announced by Dunkin' Donuts and charted by BI Intelligence.

While Dunkin' Donuts doesn't report the dollar volume transacted through its app, it has provided clues on the app's traction with consumers:

• The Dunkin' Donuts mobile payments app has been downloaded over 10 million times since it was launched in August 2012, according to the company.
• As a point of context, Starbucks' mobile app has 12 million active users in North America, and mobile payments now account for over 15% of the company's transactions in US company-operated stores.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's research service, has argued that Starbucks' loyalty program is a major reason for why the payments app is so successful and Dunkin' Donuts has followed a similar approach. When customers use the Dunkin' Donuts' app they accrue "DD Perks" rewards points which can be redeemed for free drinks. Both apps also rely on a QR code/barcode-based system that allows users to pay with their phone at the store, by having the cashier scan the codes with a code-reader attached to the register.

Dunkin' Donuts has already onboarded millions of users and if those users can be pushed to make payments in stores it would help to prove that the success of the Starbucks app isn't just a fluke - more retailers may want to experiment with a combination payments and loyalty app.

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