The new service is billed as one of “the most successful” loyalty programs in the world. It changed the way brands think about customer retention, mobile engagement, and digital ordering. Thanks to the success of Starbucks Rewards, restaurants, coffee shops, quick service restaurant chains, delivery services, grocery stores, and retailers today are happy to invest in building a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards because the model brings together payments and personalization along with convenience & gamification in one single robust ecosystem.
Starbucks didn’t just build a rewards and loyalty system — it built a daily digital habit. Millions of users earn stars, redeem rewards, discover seasonal offers , and reload in an instant. The app created emotional loyalty, not just transactional loyalty.
How to create a perfect app like starbucks?
A seamless ordering experience, a stifling earn/burn experience, and a personalised relationship to generate loyalty purchasing. The model of Starbucks is effective because while it’s gamified to reward both frequency and lifetime value (monetary value), the user experience remains simple and enjoyable.
In this blog post, we break down the central elements of a Starbucks-style loyalty app — order-ahead capabilities, point mechanics, tiered systems, wallet integrations, and backend architecture — so you can create an app that builds strong relationships with customers and drives long-term revenue.
The Starbucks Loyalty Model: Why It’s Effective
Before you try to build a competitor or successor, the key is to understand why Starbucks Rewards works. These points should be kept in mind if you decide to create a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards.
Loyalty + Ordering In Polygon Technology and Rewards all combined into one app!
As opposed to incentivizing as a second thought, ‘‘Starbucks weaves loyalty into the experience of ordering. For every scan, payment, and reload, you get points. This makes rewards feel effortless.
Gamified Progress and Instant Gratification
By your constant micro-reward of collecting stars, completing challenges, unlocking tiers , and receiving personalised treats. This psychological reward helps to ensure that we check in each day.
Stored Value and Wallet Convenience
The Starbucks wallet allows users to preload funds for a faster checkout. It’s a prepaid ecosystem, ensuring that it gets used more than once, and the customer lifetime value goes up.
Personalisation Built on Data
Offers are based on the user’s history, preferences, favourites, and seasonal behavior. This drives more redemptions and increases loyalty.
A Clear, Intuitive Earn/Burn Structure
Users will always keep in mind how many stars they need and what they’re redeeming them for. Transparency is one of the keys to the program’s success.
Together, these pillars are the blueprint for building a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards.
Features To Die For in a Starbucks-Style App
If you’re going to create a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards, your feature set needs to go beyond basic points or discounts. The platform has to read like a lifestyle app — not a coupon book. The key features that define this experience are as follows.
User Profiles and Account Management
User onboarding is the first step of every loyalty process. The profile holds preferences, purchase history, wallet balance, saved orders, and reward progress. This data fuels personalisation.
Also Read: Loyalty App Tech Stack
Earn/Burn Reward System
The app’s central mechanic is the opportunity to accumulate points (“stars”) on purchases and then take them for rewards. The system must:
Track points in real-time
Show progress visually
Allow partial redemptions
Update balances instantly
Inform players when they claim rewards.
It’s super simple, no friction in the earn/burn cycle = higher retention and order volume.
Order-Ahead Functionality
Order-ahead is one of the best perks in Starbucks Rewards. It enables customers to skip lines, personalize drinks, and arrange for pickup. Adding this to your app involves menu logic, store selector, kitchen workflows, and real-time order experience.
Tier-Based Membership Levels
Tiers (green, gold) incentivize users to pay above the average price for benefits like:
free customisations
priority offers
bonus star days
exclusive items
Tier systems promote a greater sense of achievement and community.
Digital Wallet and Stored Payments
Wallets make it possible for users to preload funds, speed up checkout, and minimize card-processing friction. Such prepaid balances give vendors a cash flow boost and ensure they have business down the road.
Customisable Menu and Product Pages
Users want to see item descriptions, customizations, allergen information, add-ons, and nutritional info.
Location-Based Store Selection
Geolocation enables users to find stores local to them, check timings, and place hyper-local orders. It must be accurate and fast.
Push Notifications & Personalised Offers
This is the message that gets people to come back for more — especially when it’s linked to user actions.
Order-Ahead & Mobile Ordering Experience
One of the main reasons businesses are creating a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards is for delivering that effortless order-ahead experience. It cuts down waiting times, it makes the store more efficient, and it increases the frequency of food ordering. A no-friction ordering experience becomes the soul of a transactional relationship with your customer.
Frictionless Menu Browsing and Customisation
For a loyalty-led ordering system to be successful, users should be able to navigate the menu easily; filter results by submenus or by meal time; deep-dive into product categories, and create their own items. Here, Starbucks shines with its multiple levels of customisation — type of milk, temperature, and flavour shots, as well as size and add-ons.
When you’re creating a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards, your UX should ensure all customisations are intuitive and supported by clear price updates and visual previews as applicable.
Store Selection and Pickup Options
Tomé added that UK customers’ choices are frequently a result of the nearest store, wait time, or availability. Your app must support:
Automatic detection of nearby stores
store-level menus
pickup windows
real-time busy indicators
So this, too, reduces friction and makes for higher order taking.
Real-Time Order Tracking
They also expect to receive the following updates after placing an order:
order accepted
in preparation
ready for pickup
completed
These small notifications really contribute to the feeling of control and dependability. When you’re building a Loyalty App like Starbucks Rewards, real-time tracking is key.
Also Read: How To Launch A Loyalty Program in UK?
Earn/Burn Mechanics: Points, Stars, and Value Design
Central to a Starbucks-like loyalty app is the point scheme. It has to be easy enough for a player to grok immediately, but deep enough to build rewarding loops around. When you create a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards, your design to earn and burn should be motivational, intuitive, fair, and equal across the board.
Simple, Transparent Points Accumulation
Starbucks uses “Stars,” though your program might have points, credits, or tokens. The key is clarity. Users ought to get visibility into how each purchase is worth, which points, what actions trigger some bonus value, and how many other points another reward sets them back. Motivation is boosted by a real-time counter and visual progress bar.
Flexible Reward Redemption Options
Users should be able to use points on:
specific products
entire categories
customisations
upgrades
exclusive items
seasonal treats
Redemption should feel like a substantive reward, not a trick. Every action should reinforce loyalty.
Bonus Days and Gamified Challenges
One of the biggest growth drivers for Starbucks is bonus star events. You can implement:
Double points days
“Buy twice this week and get a bonus.”
streak rewards
holiday or seasonal challenges
Gamification fosters both emotional and behavioural loyalty, which in turn makes the program addictive.
Level-Based Retention: Causes of Burnout by Tier System
Loyalty Tiers help shift loyalty from transactional to aspirational. Users feel like part of an exclusive club. When you create an app with tiers of loyalty like Starbucks Rewards, your tier system must incentivize customers to spend often for significant rewards.
Clear Progression Path and Visual Breakers
Users must see:
- How near they stand to the tier higher
- What benefits does each tier unlock?
- If their tier is valid for a certain period of time
- It gives you a sense of accomplishment and pressure.
- Exclusive Perks for Upper Tiers
Higher tiers can unlock:
- free customisations
- priority customer service
- early access to new products
- birthday rewards
- special event invitations
- high-value redemption options
These perks make it worth going through the hassle of achieving and maintaining higher tiers.
Renewal Logic and Tier Expiration
Your app needs to reset tiers on an annual or semi-annual basis. This way, there is no plateau, and instead, they are persevering without loss of interest. Reminders of expiration increase the sense of urgency and drive users back for more.
Digital Wallet, Stored Value & Payment Flows
The best reason to create a loyalty app similar to Starbucks Rewards is the integrated wallet. Starbucks makes billions on stored-value revenue just because consumers preloaded money into the app. This makes for a virtuous cycle in which customers spend more often, check out faster, and stay exceedingly loyal.
Preloaded Wallet for Instant Checkout
A stored-value Wallet allows you to store and pay with a single tap. Adding money in advance can streamline busy spots, speed transactions , and promote repeat use. Users are reordering sooner and at a higher frequency, with a balance around.
Card, Apple Pay & Banking Integration
The wallet must support:
- Debit/credit cards
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Open banking (the UK market can be made optional)
- recurring auto-reload
Auto-reload is especially powerful. Now, as the balance goes under a preset level, the system will auto-top-up to make sure your loyalty cycle will never be interrupted.
Digital Receipts & Transaction History
Users want transparency. The app should show:
- previous purchases
- earned points per purchase
- redeemed rewards
- wallet balance changes
This level of financial transparency is very trust-forming, particularly in the UK, where data transparency is at an all-time high.
Gift Cards and Balance Sharing
Like Starbucks, you can introduce:
- Mobile gift cards
- personalised digital gifting
- Share with family or friends.
The mechanics enable virality and spread to more users across the ecosystem.
Personalisation, Offers & Behaviour-Based Rewards
A loyalty program that makes sense. The power of a loyalty program is its ability to adapt to each individual. Customisation is one of the chief reasons brands want to develop a loyalty app, such as Starbucks’s Rewards: promos tailored for the individual consistently outperform universal discounts.
Behaviour-Driven Offer Engine
Your system should learn about user behavior and send personalized coupons, eg:
- “Your typical latte is 20 percent off today.”
- “Get two bakery items this week for bonus points.”
- “Your favourite location breakfast combo”
Offer structure should also shift with purchase frequency, time of day, favourite items, location, and historical redemptions.
AI-Powered Recommendation Layer
AI can predict:
- What users are likely to reorder
- Which offers will drive conversions
- best time to send push notifications
- personalised challenges or point accelerators
It turns your loyalty app into a dynamic, adaptive experience.
Seasonal Campaigns and Limited-Time Rewards
UK customers love to see seasonal menus and festive events. You can run:
autumn-themed drinks
Christmas reward campaigns
summer challenges
limited edition collectibles
These moments generate huge surges in involvement.
How to Create a Starbucks-Like Loyalty App – Concept, Tech Stack and More
It is not possible to build a scalable loyalty ecosystem with rudimentary tech. If you’re looking to create a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards, the backend will need to power ordering, rewards, payment integrations, tiers, stores, and personalisation of all these features.
Mobile App Tech Choices
For the iOS and Android app, value:
Flutter
React Native
Swift (iOS)
Kotlin (Android)
Flutter or React Native is a Timeline and Cost Saver.
Backend Architecture
Mechanisms for scaling. The microservices or modular architecture is designed to be scalable. Core services include:
- user accounts
- stores & menus
- ordering
- wallet
- payments
- loyalty engine
- tiering system
- notifications
- analytics
That’s a structure that prevents bottlenecks and allows for continued growth in future years.
Databases and Cloud
Run on cloud providers such as AWS or Google Cloud:
- PostgreSQL/MySQL for structured data
- Redis for caching
- Elasticsearch for search
- CDN for media assets
And when you’re processing thousands of orders a day, scalability is key.
Integration with POS and KDS
For both independent & chain businesses, store-level integration links the app to:
POS system
Kitchen Display System (KDS)
inventory management
store-level menus and pricing
Seamless integration to perform real-time order processing.
Cost & Timing Of Developing An App Like Starbucks Loyalty.
Calculating the price to develop a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards is highly dependent on complexity, integrations, and scale. A Starbucks-like ecosystem that integrates loyalty, ordering, payments, personalisation, and stored value — so the build is at a higher level than your typical rewards app.
Cost to Estimate (UK Hybrid Team Model)
- Simple Loyalty App – (Points + Rewards + Simple Wallet)
£30,000 – £55,000
Appropriate for small cafes, restaurants, or emerging brands looking for a straightforward rewards model.
- Loyalty App with Order-Ahead for the Middle Tier + Tiers + Personalisation and Wallet
£60,000 – £120,000
This tier covers most Starbucks-esque app features and is a solid option for national chains.
- Starbucks-Level Full Enterprise System (Wallet, Tiers, AI Offers, POS Integrations, Stored Value, and Gift Cards)
£150,000 – £300,000+
It’s built for the largest restaurant groups, coffee chains, QSRs, and all other enterprise players that want to transform their loyalty program into a technology powerhouse.
Timeline Estimate
MVP: 10–14 weeks
Core loyalty + earn / burn + basic ordering included.
Mid-Level Product: 18–24 weeks
Includes ordering, tiers, wallet, push notifications , and POS integration.
Advanced System: 28–40+ weeks
Comes with extensive AI personalization, sophisticated offers engine, cross-store workflows, CRM integration , and enterprise security.
These timelines are based on incremental development and testing with ongoing store-level operational training.
Compliance, Security & Fraud Prevention
Sensitive financial and behavioural information is managed by a Starbucks-like loyalty platform. When it comes to developing a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards, you can’t just tack security and compliance onto the app creation process as though they’re afterthoughts; they must be built deep into the codebase itself.
PCI Compliance for Payments
If your app stores payment information or facilitates transactions, you must be PCI-DSS compliant.
You must:
- Encrypt card data
- Avoid storing raw card numbers.
- Use secure gateways such as Stripe, Adyen, or Worldpay.
- Wallets and preloaded value require additional protection.
GDPR Compliance for UK Users
Your platform stores:
- order history
- location data
- behavioural patterns
- favourite items
- device info
This includes things like GDPR-compliant privacy policies, clear consent flows, opt-outs, deletion requests, and data encryption.
Fraud Prevention for Rewards Abuse
Fraudsters also commonly target loyalty programs. Add protections like:
- IP/device tracking
- anti-spam for referral programs
- unusual activity monitoring
- velocity limits on reward earning
- anomaly detection algorithms
A strong rules engine makes sure people can’t game the earn/burn system.
Wallet Lock and Stored Value Protection
Attacks are directed at stored value systems because they contain real money. Protect them with:
- two-factor authentication
- biometric login
- encrypted token systems
- transaction alerts
- Freeze/unfreeze controls.
High Wallet Security: Establishing a high level of trust in users is tied to user safety.
The Bestech (UK) provides to you in building a Starbucks-style loyalty App.
Bestech focuses on developing customer engagement platforms, loyalty ecosystems, and order-ahead apps for UK and global brands. Should you intend to develop a loyalty program similar to Starbucks Rewards, our team is ready to offer full-cycle services as we cater to long-term success and sustainable growth. Loyalty App Development Company, is here to help you.
UK-Focused Strategy and Loyalty Architecture
We start with your business model, customer segments, store setup, and rewards objective. Then we build an entire loyalty architecture just for your brand – everything from tiers, offer logic, and purchase journeys to engagement loops.
Ordering, Wallets, and Loyalty engines – Best in Class Development.
We teach all of the standard courses:
- mobile ordering
- menu & store management
- loyalty engine
- tier system
- rewards marketplace
- digital wallet
- CRM integration
- AI-driven offer engine
We guaranteed Starbucks-level smoothness of interaction every single time.
UK + Offshore Model for Lower Costs
You get strategic leadership in the U.K. and engineering teams overseas. That translates into faster timelines and dramatically lower development costs — all while preserving quality.
Scalability, Feature Expansion, and Long-Term Maintenance
Bestech is still your tech partner after you’ve launched: anything that involves new content, features, optimization, and A/B testing for the store roll-outs, tracking, and scaling on whatever white cloud exists in the sky! We are growing with you, from one store to a thousand.
Conclusion
In order to create a loyalty app like Starbucks Rewards, you have to pack an ecosystem of mobile ordering, rewards, personalization, payment convenience, and gamification. Starbucks has succeeded not only because it built a digital platform that rewards behavior, streamlines ordering, and increases emotional loyalty.
With the proper architecture, offer engine, stored-value wallet, and tier system in place at your brand, you can have a customer retention and revenue impact that meets or exceeds Starbucks’. “Loyalty apps that are good applications, good pieces of software become part of the daily routine, not just a discount,” he said.
FAQs
What is the cost of developing an app like Starbucks Rewards?
It is generally between £60,000 and £300,000+ per month, depending on features and size.
What is it about Starbucks’ rewards program that works so well?
It’s a somewhat unique blend of order-ahead convenience, customised offers, stored-value wallet, gamified tiers, and easy earn/burn systems.
Could mom and pop start-ups create a Starbucks-style loyalty app?
Yes. A stripped-down reward program, with points, a digital wallet, and offers, can be built at a fraction of the cost.
Do I need POS integration?
For Merchants with multiple store locations, Point of Sales (POS) integration is a must to sync orders, payments, and loyalty points.
How long does development take?
Between 10 and 40 (or more) weeks, depending on the scope.
