Starbucks Coffee Korea said Thursday that it would test run cashless operations at three of its branches next month, amid the growing use of credit cards and mobile payments. 

Three branches including two in Seoul -- one near Samseong Station in Gangnam and one in Guro -- and one in Pangyo in Seongnam will go cashless from April 23, the company said. All three stores are located in bustling business districts. 

Starbucks Coffee Korea said it plans to analyze the impact of a cashless system and reflect the results in its operations. This marks the US coffeehouse chain’s second trial to go cashless, following its Seattle store in the US, which went cashless in January. 

According to the company, cash payments have been declining at Starbucks stores here, with only 7 percent of payments being made in cash last year, a more than 20 percentage point drop from 31 percent in 2010. 

Meanwhile, payments made via credit cards, mobile devices and e-gift cards accounted for 80 percent of total payments at stores as of the end of 2017, the company said. 

Starbucks Korea launched a mobile order and payment system app called “Siren Order” in May 2014. Since then, a total of 40 million orders have been made via the app, according to the company. 

“With the increasing number of mobile payments and use of credit cards at our stores, we wanted to offer an innovative cashless payment experience to customers through the test-run,” said Lee Seock-koo, head of Starbucks Coffee Korea. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)