Shopify has been talking about how it wants to revolutionise the checkout process on its online shop checkouts and emulate best practice that is already in place on apps and web services that put a focus on swiftness and ease. Specifically Google Pay and Uber are services cited as super-easy to use with minimal inputs and repetitive actions. A Shopify exec wants to innovate a checkout that feels like scarcely a checkout at all.
We want to kill the checkout forms of today. They have overstayed their welcome. We’re always looking for the next big way to help our merchants succeed. At the end of the day, the merchant wants to say yes to the buy – and we make it easy for them to do that, and only that, without having to worry about anything else. Neither the merchant nor the buyer wants to jump through a lot of hoops when it comes to payment methods – we just want to be sure that neither have to.
– Shopify head of payments, Andre Lyver
Specifically Lyver pointed out how with Google Pay, consumers can open up the platform and connect with their saved payment information anywhere they need to use it and it doesn’t matter what device they are shopping on or whether they’ve shopped there before. He also cited the ease of the customer experience when travelling with Uber as a bravura example of ease that could be emulated.
The Uber example is particularly salient because it is amazingly easy to use. Once you’ve got your card details stored, you just need to order your ride and find the driver. As you leap out of the vehicle, all you need to do as a passenger is say ‘Thank You’. The app asks you later whether the trip was a success and invites you to give a tip and feedback. Certainly such ease would be welcome on some online stores when making a a purchase.
