UK online shoppers can now checkout their online purchases from third-party retailer sites using their Amazon customer credentials.
Checkout by Amazon (CBA) launches today in what Amazon describes as a drive to make it easier for its customers to buy elsewhere.
When those customers use their Amazon log-in to pay on any site that has integrated Checkout by Amazon, they can choose delivery to addresses listed in their Amazon address book and pay using their Amazon-registered credit card without leaving the site they’re on. Clicking on the Checkout by Amazon button brings up an Amazon-branded log-in and takes the user straight to a shopping basket. Notification of a sale comes to the retailer via Amazon Payments and consumers are offered the same guarantees on delivery as they are through Amazon.
For the consumer it means fewer steps to take in order to pay, says Amazon, while it also benefits retailers since it results in larger order sizes and new customers.
“We are focused on making it extraordinarily simple for Amazon customers to shop anywhere online,” said Eric Broussard, general manager of Amazon Payments Europe, which operates CBA for Europe. “Launched in the US in 2008, Checkout by Amazon now makes it possible for over a hundred million Amazon customers worldwide to shop securely and conveniently on retail sites all over the UK.”
Retailers who want to use Checkout by Amazon follow a series of instructions to integrate the facility into their site. Use is charged at 20p per transaction and a percentage of the transaction value, starting at 3.4% on purchases with a value up to £1,500, although volume discounts are available.
Sites which are already offering Checkout by Amazon include The Watch Hut and The Jewel Hut, owned by T.H. Baker. Its ecommerce operations manager Marc Woodall said it saw the move as a “natural extension of commitment to customer service and security”. He said: “Our customers trust the Amazon brand and we trust they’ll shop more when they use Checkout by Amazon.”
Retailers can find out more here: http://payments.amazon.co.uk.
Our view: Retailers won’t want to put all their eggs in one payment basket by offering only Checkout by Amazon as a payment option. There are costs to be considered, but this is likely to prove a useful option for many retailers to offer – alongside the others they already have. That then gives consumers a wider choice of ways to pay, and increases the convenience. That’s what ultimately will make it more likely new customers will shop with them.
