PayPal's latest offering will make online shopping faster and easier, officials said in revealing the new service at eBay's Innovate Developer Conference earlier this week.
The service, known as PayPal Access, will allow customers that visit participating sites to log onto these sites using their PayPal credentials. Doing so will automatically enter shipping information for buyers as well as their payment information, if buyers choose.
This means buyers won't have to remember multiple account log-in credentials to shop online when they go from one site to another. It will also automate the work of creating a new site account—something many Web sites require of customer before they can begin shopping, officials note.
The automation could help reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts, according to PayPal. Forrester Research has found that one in four consumers abandon their shopping carts when a site asks them to register for an account.
"There's still too much friction in online shopping," notes Damon Hougland, general manager of Identify and Informatics for X.commerce, the commerce technology platform that comprises eBay, PayPal, Magento and other eBay companies. "Consumers don't want to enter multiple pages of information to make a purchase. With PayPal Access, consumers can spend less time filling out forms, and more time buying."
But it could do another thing: It could build trust among buyers venturing onto a new site, notes Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya, PayPal's partner in the project.
"PayPal is a trusted brand with both merchants and consumers," he says. "PayPal Access eliminates the point of friction in the checkout process, and helps retailers increase conversion rates."
PayPal Access will be available on multiple sites throughout the world, PayPal notes. PayPal has more than 100 million users in 190 markets around the world, according to eBay.
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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