Service with a smile and an app

Tshutterstock_187536890ill systems and mobile devices are now working together to personalise and enhance the purchasing experience.

Coffee specialist Harris+Hoole has launched a new mobile app that processes the whole of a customer’s order by interacting with the in shop till and the barista operating it.

Customers using the app load pre-paid cash amounts onto their app account, and then on arrival at the coffee shop they check back into the app and make their order. This order then comes up on the barista’s till along with the customer’s name and photo to personalise the collection experience. In just a couple of taps on the app the whole order is complete, and queued to be served momentarily by the barista who can recognise the customer according to their details.

Harris+Hoole claims it is the smoothest, most customer friendly process on the high street. Danielle Anderson, director of digital experience at Harris+Hoole, said: “The mobile payment removes the cold formality of an anonymous transaction and better reflects the kind of friendly exchange you’d expect from your local coffee shop.

“For the first time anywhere in the UK, a customer can walk into any H+H shop, order their usual from a barista who knows their name and how they like their coffee, and pay – all from just one tap on their mobile.”

Anderson added: “We don’t do tech for tech’s sake, we are always working towards making the experience of drinking coffee magical and anything we can do to enhance that is good for our customers.”

The roll out of the new app will be across all 36 stores by July 1.