A surge in the popularity of one-click buying is having a profound impact on consumer expectations.

By enabling digital payments across multiple devices, these services are the next step in giving the modern consumer the freedom they want when making purchases.

The payment plus side

They work in much the same way as keeping your cards and cash together in an ‘offline’ wallet, digitally storing payment details in one place to enable a quicker and simpler checkout process.

The obvious benefit to customers is in eliminating the tedium of having to re-enter payment information for each retailer, ensuring a fast and convenient checkout process.

Consumers making face-to-face purchases on the high street don’t expect to fill out forms containing all their payment details for each shop they visit – one-click brings online payments in line with that experience.

The spectrum ranges from near field communication-enabled technologies for in-store and in-app payments to app-based services for online and mobile purchases.

Inhibiting adoption

Payment methods that keep details in one place have been around since the launch of the web. Expectations were high that early digital wallets would be the break-through product that would drive consumer uptake.

However, the market has remained fragmented, without a clear leader.

The confluence of technologies, such as NFC-enabled phones with PoS terminals, along with the advent of tokenisation in data security, has given consumers more confidence to use different payment methods.

How do retailers benefit?

There are great advantages for retailers with one-click payment methods.

Reducing the average transaction time and streamlining the checkout process positively impacts conversion rates.

Consumers also feel more secure about their payments, resulting in a reduction in cart abandonment.

As consumers embrace new shopping and payment methods, and their expectations change, retailers need to keep pace.

Convenience, speed and ease of use across all channels and devices are the new gold standards for the modern retailer. 

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