Dive Brief:
- Dunkin’ Donuts’ loyalty members can now connect to its mobile ordering feature directly within the Waze app, the donut bakery chain said in a press release.
- Before starting a trip, loyalty members can use Waze to pinpoint the nearest Dunkin' Donuts location and tap a button to launch On-the-Go Ordering, a feature from the chain's mobile app that can now be accessed in the Waze app. From there, users can pick from the menu, customize an order, apply rewards and tap a button so their order is ready upon arrival.
- Dunkin' Donuts is the first brand to integrate with Waze's new Order Ahead feature.
Dive Insight:
The Dunkin' Donuts-Waze tie-up is a great example of how mobile apps are starting to operate less in a standalone vacuum that forces users to open and close multiple apps at a time, but are instead integrating frequent companion tasks, such as planning a trip and ordering food. Along these lines, Waze also recently partnered up with Spotify to cross-promote functionality from each service.
Other mobile platforms are also looking for ways to integrate app functionality. For example, Apple recently acquired Workflow, an automation platform designed to make it easier for mobile users to create their own cross-app workflows.
For Dunkin’ Donuts, the strategy is a continuation of its efforts to leverage mobile ordering to build loyalty and better compete against Starbucks, which set the standard for mobile loyalty apps in the quick-service space.
For Waze, a crowdsourced traffic and navigation app, the new Order Ahead feature helps further its mission of giving consumers ways to save time on the road while boosting its monetization strategy through giving businesses another way to get in front of users. Dunkin’ Donuts is a long-standing partner of Waze and was the first to use a Favorite Brand Campaign in 2016, enabling users to favorite the brand through native ad units.
