Starbucks Is Trialing Palm Payment In Coffee Shops. Are Consumers Ready?

Last month, Starbucks
SBUX
expanded its trial of Amazon’s
AMZN
biometric payment system, Amazon One, to the Seattle metro market.

The system, which allows customers to pay for their coffee by signing up and registering their palms via an in-store kiosk, has already been used by the coffee chain in two Amazon Go-like concept stores built in partnership with the Seattle-based e-commerce giant in New York City. With its latest trial, the coffee chain is trying out the system for the first time in an existing Starbucks storefront.

The trial is taking place in Edmonds, Washington, a small waterfront community north of Seattle, where the average age is around 45 years old, approximately 10 years older than the average Seattle resident. This age difference may be one reason Starbucks selected this waterfront community to test the palm payment system for the first time in one of its stores.

In general, older consumers tend to be more comfortable with payment methods they are familiar with, such as cash or credit cards, and often eschew newer forms of payment such as mobile pay. And while a majority of US consumers say they are comfortable with biometrics nowadays, older generations have indicated they are more skeptical of the technology.

What does all this mean for Starbucks? In short, they might have a challenge convincing some customers, particularly older ones, to hold out their palms.

Initial responses in the Edmonds trial seem to support this notion. According to employees at the Starbucks conducting the trial, the initial reaction to the payment system has been mixed, with older customers expressing the most skepticism.

“They’re kind of freaked out by it,” said the in-store demo attendant showing off the system the day I stopped in. “It’s an older town, so some people aren’t interested.”

Of course, Starbucks isn’t forcing anyone to use biometrics, and with one of the food retail industry’s most successful mobile payment systems, they won’t be pushing too hard selling biometrics on their user base (though Web3 might be another story).

But for those younger users interested in the idea of using their palm to pay for their frappucinos, it looks like palm-pay might be coming soon to a store near you.