Did you know that about 50% of online shopping carts are abandoned at checkout?*
Research has shown 41% of online shoppers think that the check-out process is too long.**
Even those shoppers who are willing to spend the time and take the risks providing personal financial information to every internet shopping site would probably like payment to be easier.
What happens when you are buying an item as a gift for a friend and getting the merchant to send it directly to the friend's address? This situation is virtually taboo for credit card and most web-based payment systems because it fails one of their primary
security checks.
Who wants any website to know their financial information anyway?
Even third party web payment outfits like Paypal just add more security worries or another step to the purchasing process. The main reason Paypal was attractive to buyers was because it alleviated the requirement to provide financial information to every
buyer or seller when shopping on ebay. Australians soon worked out that it was cheaper, faster and easier to do bank deposits, but many would prefer less exposure of personal financial information during either buying or selling. Not surprising seeing how
easy it appears to be to get your money from your bank if the account or card number is known.
I'd prefer a few seconds on my mobile, without all the hoo-haa and risk. Latest news is that most consumers would too.
The above figures suggest the average merchant may be keen on seeing a few of those discarded transactions completed. Easier, more flexible and safer ways should make merchants happy to clip the ticket when it means more completed sales and lower losses.
I see a very big future for easier, faster and safer mobile transactions for payments to internet merchants. I could even imagine a time when the mobile is really the only way anyone makes an internet purchase.
If it's a race for time - the mobile will win.
If you want to be safe - the mobile wins easily.
If you want it to be easy - the mobile definitely has it won.
It's pretty easy to imagine every retail payment being done with a mobile. Especially from where I'm sitting.
We'll see what we can do about that when this dust settles. Your choice - the dust from the rubble of Wall St or the gold-dust raining down from Washington, or both.
*Source: Shop.org/Forrester, 2007
**Source: Online Study, Valtech Nov 2006 and TNS Research 2006