Schultz sets digital future for Starbucks Mobile payments, loyalty programmes and the shift to a digital wallet will be the focus for Howard Schultz as the Starbucks chief executive shakes up his senior leadership in response to what he called a "seismic shift" in shopping habits. Underlining the evolving landscape US retail, Amazon is planning to introduce a checkout system on Kindle tablets for use by brick-and-mortar stores, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. At Starbucks, Mr Schultz will take on responsibility for the expansion of the US coffee chain's digital operations, including electronic and mobile payments, gift cards and customer reward schemes, which he described as "undervalued assets." Troy Alstead, chief financial officer, was appointed to the new position of chief operating officer, taking on oversight of day-to-day operations and retailing in physical stores. "There's no question that it's evolving to the point where your digital wallet is going to be the primary currency," Mr Schultz said. The consumer brand that's going to win over the long term will do it only within the four walls of their store but in the digital space. Mr Schultz has been increasingly vocal about the changing nature of US retail, which sees Americans shopping online instead of in malls or stores - meaning there are fewer chances for Starbucks to lure customers in for a latte. Overall foot traffic at US stores fell 14.6 per cent in November and December 2013 from the year before, according to ShopperTrak. During that period, traffic at Starbucks" US stores rose 4 per cent, but its sales growth slowed in the final three months of the year, which executives attributed to the rise of ecommerce. "The seismic shift in consumer behaviour was not a December anomaly and will happen quickly," Mr Schultz said. But he was bullish about Starbucks" ability to not just weather the change but benefit from it through a greater emphasis on digital operations, which could generate revenue as well as encourage more customer visits to Starbucks shops. Customers loaded a record $1.4bn on to gift cards in the last quarter of 2013. Starbucks recently changed its loyalty programme to allow members to earn "stars," or points, towards free food or drink not only when they shop at cafés but when they buy packaged coffee at grocery stores. Mr Schultz suggested the points may one day be used more broadly, saying: "there is a currency that relates to stars." Mobile payments could be the company's biggest opportunity. Starbucks is an investor in Square, the San Francisco-based mobile payments provider, and processes 5m mobile transactions a week, which it said was well ahead of any other national retailer. While a number of technology companies, including Apple, Google and PayPal, are eyeing mobile payments, there is not yet a standard platform for paying via smartphone. Mr Schultz said that the reshuffle was not related to any planned acquisitions, but added: "the payment space itself is a very attractive opportunity for our company given the digital assets that we have." As part of the changes, the company's regional group presidents, as well as Mr Alstead's successor as chief financial officer - Scott Maw, currently senior vice-president of corporate finance - will now report to Mr Alstead, a 22-year veteran of Starbucks. Mr Schultz said the management shake-up was not related to succession planning.