Starbucks has introduced a new feature called My Starbucks barista in its mobile app, and basically it is a voice operated digital assistant that lets consumers order and even pay for the food and drinks they buy by way of verbal requests. Customers are even allowed to modify their drinks, just like they would with a real life Starbucks barista. On top of that, the US based coffee giant also took the opportunity to debut a new skill for the Amazon’s Alexa platform. With this skill, coffee fans can reorder their favorite items by talking to their Echo speaker, or any other device powered by Alexa.
Some may remember that at its Investor Day more than a month ago, Starbucks had revealed that it was planning to unveil a voice assistant that would be rolled out to beta testers some time in the first few months of this year. The company has indeed made good its promise as evidenced by the introduction of the My Starbucks barista feature.
The latest addition to the Starbucks mobile app takes full advantage of artificial intelligence in the processing of orders via a new new messaging platform in the app’s environment. Consumers can make use of this messaging platform in letting the virtual assistant know of their orders. The virtual assistant meanwhile not only confirms the location of the Starbucks the customer orders from, but also takes part in facilitating the payment process.
According to Starbucks, the new voice operated virtual assistant will only be deployed for now to a thousand owners of iOS powered mobile devices across the United States as part of a limited beta testing phase. But by this year’s summer, the feature should be already rolled out to all iOS users of the company’s mobile app. As for Android mobile users, they should expect to start using the feature in the later part of this year.
As mentioned earlier, the coffee giant also launched the Starbucks Reorder Skill for Amazon’s Alexa. Essentially, this skill allows people to reorder items they usually purchase from Starbucks just by saying “Alexa, order my Starbucks.” In order to make the most out of this skill, consumers must set up an account on their Starbucks mobile apps and assign their favorite order.
Starbucks exploring a voice operated feature on its mobile app is further proof that digital assistants are getting more and more popular in mobile. Apart from big names such as Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana, other platforms such as Amazon’s Alexa are now trying to make their mark in the market. With more and more brands like Starbucks joining in on the fun, the next few years will no doubt see an explosion in digital assistant features.
from
https://www.wirefly.com/blog/news/starbucks-now-has-voice-operated-virtual-assistant