Google Checkout pulls ahead of PayPal’s streamlined checkout option
A growing number of major online retailers are allowing customers to pay with Google Checkout, and adoption would be even faster were it not for concerns on the part of retailers about sharing transaction data with Google, according to a new report by analyst Jim Friedland of investment firm Cowen and Company.
Twenty-six of the top 200 online merchants, or 13%, now accept Google Checkout, up from 15 in January, Friedland says, based on a survey of the top 200 e-retailers as identified in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. Seven of the top 100 e-retailers accept Google Checkout today, compared with four in January, and 19 of the second hundred, up from 11 five months ago, Friedland reports.
That puts Google Checkout ahead of the similar streamlined checkout option PayPal Express Checkout from the PayPal unit of eBay Inc. Twenty-one of the top 200 retailers, or 10.5%, accept PayPal Express Checkout, up from 15 in January, according to the Cowen survey.
However, many larger retailers who are interested in offering Google Checkout are hesitant to share customer and transaction data with Google, Friedland says. “There have been no ‘deal breaker’ concerns,” he writes in the report, “but negotiations between Google and the legal teams at large retailers have been protracted, resulting in delayed adoption.”
Fifty-two of the top 200 online merchants accept the basic PayPal service that allows consumers to make payments via direct debits to their bank accounts. That was up from 45 of the top 200 e-retailers in January. Friedland says the main users of PayPal at merchants other than eBay are those who use it on eBay’s auction sites. PayPal recently reported that 61% of its payment volume was on eBay. EBay has 82.9 million active accounts and PayPal 35.7 million, Friedland reports.
PayPal Express Checkout and Google Checkout both require consumers to register in advance with their payment information and addresses. They then can pay by clicking on that option and entering a password, speeding up checkout and shielding card numbers from retailers. Both allow payment with credit and debit cards, while PayPal Express Checkout also allows consumers to choose the PayPal payment option.
Friedland also reports strong adoption of Bill Me Later, a payment service from I4 Commerce Inc. that performs a quick credit check and then bills approved customers for the purchase amount. Fifty-six of the top 200 retailers now offer Bill Me Later, up from 53 in January, Friedland reports.
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