The company’s Syrup Order enables users to place orders with smartphones for their favorite beverages at around 1,200 coffee shops run by 110 coffee franchises and local coffeehouse brands across the nation, including Caffe Bene, Coffee Smith and Hollys Coffee.

Launched in October last year, the Syrup Order app, currently available both on Google’s Android operating system and Apple’s iOS, also shows users nearby coffee shops and restaurants in partnership with the SK Group affiliate, and the menus and locations of those dining places.

“SK Planet will tie up with a variety of businesses including theme parks and restaurants to expand the mobile service,” an official from the IT solutions firm said.

After ordering with the smartphone app, users receive push notifications on their handsets when their orders are ready for pickup.

Users can pay with their virtual credit cards stored in the device and an embedded mobile payment system on the app or add charges to their mobile bills.

The company plans to incorporate its mobile payment service Syrup Pay in the app to improve user experience.

Not to be outdone in the growing mobile ordering market, other retailers and IT companies are jumping on the bandwagon.

South Korea’s most-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk is working on its own mobile ordering service, called Kakao Order, in the Korean market.

“Kakao Order is in line with the firm’s initiative to beef up the so-called ‘online-to-offline’ business,” said an official from the mobile messenger operator, adding that the service would be launched in the fourth quarter of this year.

The mobile messenger operator is reported to be in talks with major coffee franchises nationwide to launch the mobile app and will make the app compatible with mobile payment service Kakao Pay and digital wallet Bank Wallet Kakao.

“Since the mobile messenger has a massive user base of approximately 40 million, or 80 percent of the entire Korean population, its impact on the mobile ordering services market will be significant,” an industry official said.

Starbucks, the world’s largest coffeehouse firm, is also luring coffee aficionados with its convenient mobile ordering service, called the Siren Order in Korea, or Mobile Order and Pay in the U.S.

The Seattle-headquartered coffee chain launched its mobile payment system in Korea in May last year and has since deployed it to more than 4,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S.

“Mobile Order and Pay is enabling us to serve more customers more quickly and efficiently and to significantly reduce attrition off the (in-store) line,” Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said during a conference call last week, adding that the mobile payment system was fueling both revenue and profit growth of the Starbucks stores.

By Kim Young-won  (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)