McDonald’s New App Will Let You Order, Pay For Food

The conveniences of fast food are getting even more convenient now that McDonald’s is gearing up to roll out the ability to order and pay for a Big Mac online.

According to a report by The Next Web, McDonald’s is gearing up to launch the new app that will support online orders next year. But not every fast food fan is going to have access to the app since it will be launched only in certain international markets at first, including Australia, Canada, France and the U.K.

The exact timing of the new app is unclear at this point, but it’s part of the fast food chain’s efforts to get more high-tech. It’s already working toward rolling out technology in all of its stores worldwide by the end of 2018, noted the report. McDonald’s is a little late to the ordering-via-an-app party. After all, Starbucks, Domino’s and Taco Bell already have digital payment options that have been hugely popular with consumers, particularly millennials who were born with a smartphone at their hip. Take Domino’s, for one example.

For some time now, Domino’s has been aggressively courting millennials and using technology to lure them. It launched its AnyWare technology strategy, which aims to give customers the ability to place an order using any one of a multitude of platforms. They include voice ordering through Dom, the company’s order-taking app; placing an order via its Twitter feed, where customers can use a pizza emoji to place an order; and through text messaging. Customers can even shout out an order to Amazon’s Echo, Samsung’s Smart TV and Ford’s Sync, if they are in the car. Domino’s recently expanded its digital ordering offerings to include the ability to place an order through smartwatches.

To baby boomers, who witnessed the birth of the Ann Arbor, MI-based pizza chain, it may seem easier just to phone it in, which still is possible to do. But for millennials, who grew up with mobile devices and who would rather text than talk to someone, it seems to be resonating, with half of Domino’s sales coming from digital channels, according to BTIG Analyst Peter Saleh. Domino’s has said that customers tend to order more when using a digital venue, as opposed to a phone.