You may not have heard the news back in September 2017. Amazon’s 1-click buying process, which had been patented since 1999, expired. This opens the door for companies to utilize this revolutionary process without paying Amazon any licensing fees. Amazon’s 1-click patent allowed customers to purchase goods online without having to enter billing, payment or shipping information. So, what does this mean for the consumer and businesses?
1-Click Buying Helps Reduce Cart Abandonment
Shopping Cart abandonment is a major issue on mobile, as most consumers choose to make their purchases on a desktop. 27% of shopping carts were abandoned as a result of a long, complicated checkout process in 2016. As retailers begin to adapt faster and simpler payment methods, we may see a decrease in the number of shopping carts that are abandoned.
But 1-Click Buying Won’t Solve All of Your Problems
While this feature is now accessible to everyone, there may not see an immediate increase in sales. A portion of Amazon’s success can be attributed to their numerous benefits such as lower prices, free shipping, voice search, dash buttons, and more. There are many other important reasons why shoppers abandon carts. According to a 2016 Baymard Institute study, 60% of carts were abandoned because extra costs (shipping, taxes, and fees) were too high, 20% of carts were abandoned because the website crashed or had errors, and 19% of carts were abandoned because the site didn’t seem trustworthy. Retailers should consider and investigate as to why you are experiencing large amounts of abandoned carts.
PC Shopping May Be Revolutionized
Thanks to initiatives from big players like Facebook, Google, and Apple, online shopping could become streamlined internet-wide. Projects are being developed that would allow consumers to save their payment and shipping information in their browsers and utilize 1-click buying on participating websites. It would be faster than auto-filling information as all information is entered invisibly through the 1-click method. It would also help secure credit card information as purchases would be given a one-time payment token instead of the credit card details.
There’s no denying that Amazon is a trailblazer in the online retail industry, and as they continue to innovate we will undoubtedly see those innovations trickle down industry-wide. Now that 1-Click buying is available publicly, it could cause some significant changes to the online shopping checkout process. Over the next few years, we will see more websites utilizing the 1-Click purchase and the possibility of an internet-wide 1-click shopping program.
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