As Payment Solutions Diversify, Consumers Want Frictionless Options

Seamless, frictionless, one-click — whatever it’s called, consumers want it. The less time spent fiddling around trying to pay for something, the better. The average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is more than 69.5%, and among the reasons consumers ditch their carts are “long and confusing checkouts.” Choosing the right payment solution or “gateways” can alleviate complicated check-outs. Where PayPal was once the king of all online payment options, other brands like Amazon and Apple are gaining in popularity. When deciding which payment gateways to choose, brands must consider their audiences and the benefits each gateway brings with it.

The Most Popular Gateways Often Have Consumer Trust

With 295 million active accounts worldwide, transaction revenues for PayPal in 2018 totaled $13.7 billion, making it the most dominant and trusted payment gateway for most consumers, although it has typically been used by older consumers. For brands trying to decide which payment gateway to choose, a name that consumers trust can be beneficial, particularly if your audience is less familiar with newer names to the digital payments sector.

The Big Four Are Increasingly Popular Payment Services For Ecommerce Brands

Venmo, owned by PayPal, initially gained popularity for being an easy way to make peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, with a 64% increase in payment volume year-over-year in 2019. Last year Venmo expanded to retail brands, offering a payment button anywhere PayPal was also accepted. Google Pay, Apple Pay and Amazon Pay have also become popular choices for digital retailers looking for younger consumers, frictionless transactions, high mobile conversions and less cart abandonment.

New Ecommerce Companies Appreciate The Credibility Big Brand Payment Gateways Give Them

A 2019 Digiday article that looked into the rise of Amazon Pay attributed some of the success of Amazon Pay to the credibility Amazon can bring new ecommerce brands. “At the time we rolled out [Amazon Pay], we didn’t have the brand awareness,” Noelle Sader, VP of Marketing at apparel brand Lulus told Digiday. “Amazon is a brand that people trust and generally have faith in.” Sadler added that exit surveys from customers suggest they are happy with the Amazon Pay checkout experience.

Bombas, another apparel company, said Bombas counts on Amazon Pay and PayPal to facilitate easy mobile payments. Additionally, giant brands like Amazon can offer fraud protection. The trade off, especially with a brand like Amazon, could be Amazon’s access to shopper data that could benefit Amazon’s own marketplace.

For ecommerce brands young and established, choosing the right payment gateways should be a combination of factors carefully considered to increase consumer comfort and ease of payment.

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About the Author

With more than 20 years of writing, editing and reporting experience, Sarah Cavill brings to Digital Media Solutions (DMS) a fine-tuned and diverse set of skills. Her work has been featured in notable publications including The Daily Muse, CBS Local, Techlicious and Glamour magazine. Sarah has a passion for current events and the deep-dive research that goes into the content development and brand identity of DMS Insights. In her role as Senior Marketing Communications Writer, Sarah contributes to the pitching, researching and writing of multiple stories published each week surrounding digital and performance marketing innovations in pop culture, news, social media, branding and advertising.

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