In a February interview, Ryan Records, a vice president of payments and cards at Starbucks, highlighted rising amounts of money being loaded on the Starbucks Card, a holiday-season spike in new loyalty program members and strong mobile app downloads as reason to see the unit as being increasingly relevant to Starbucks.
In another bid to set itself apart from the competition this holiday season, the retailer introduced a toy reservation program, which allowed shoppers to place 50 hot toys on hold.