Despite the fact that McDonald’s is late to the mobile ordering game, especially in the core of many major cities in North America where ordering food via a smartphone is widely available at a number of restaurant chains, the golden arches in the sky is working on an innovative new feature for its app.
In what looks to be a bid to avoid consumer congestions, long wait lines and cold food, McDonald’s mobile ordering app is set to utilize geo-fencing in order to detect when customers are getting close to the location, alerting staff to start preparing the meal accordingly.
McDonald’s is currently testing the feature at 29 locations in Monterey and Salinas, California, with plans to expand to 51 locations is Spokane, Washington on March 20th. These tests are designed to work out any issues with the mobile order and pay update before rolling it out to the fast food chains’ 14,000 U.S. McDonald’s locations by the end of 2017, including 6,000 additional locations in Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Australia and China.
According to the fast food chain, in the final version of McDonald’s app, customers will be able to select their dining table, whether they’re going to use the drive-through, or if they prefer curb side delivery when they place their meal order.
While McDonald’s app is currently available in Canada, it doesn’t feature the ordering functionality present in its U.S. counterpart. Since the restaurant has plans to bring its geo-fencing feature to Canada, this means the company is also set to launch in-app ordering at some point in the future.
There’s no timeline, however, for the release of this feature in Canada, apart from before the end of 2017.
McDonald’s app is currently available for Android and iOS in Canada.
Source: Reuters
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