PYMNTS
In the fast and frictionless checkout game, buy buttons have taken a circuitous route since first appearing on Amazon in 1995. But 27 years later, with the concept all grown up and accessible in more places than ever, retail’s embrace of the rapid checkout solutions may be just what’s needed to help the holiday selling season that’s now under threat.
Add to that the pull of numerous new and expanded point-of-sale (POS) options for buy now, pay later (BNPL), and merchants could have a powerful pair of retail technologies to drive up receipts as shopping intensifies.
As eCommerce merchants overhaul tech stacks and look for every edge, research shows they’re apt to find it in buy buttons that leverage consumer desires for easy checkout experiences in part by tapping into the psychology of impulse, leading to more, faster conversions.
PYMNTS analyzed this in the “2022 Buy Button Report: Accelerating Checkout Optimization,” surveying more than 800 top online retailers and finding that “online shoppers who used a buy button at checkout completed their purchase journeys in roughly half the time it took those who checked out via regular methods. Checkouts via buy button took just 68 seconds, on average, in Q2 2022 — 17% faster than they were in Q4 2020.”
Double-digit gains in checkout speed in under two years is an achievement by any standard, explaining why 79% of all online merchants now offer buy button checkout options. We found that PayPal holds “a commanding lead over all competitors, but Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay significantly expanded their buy button availability since our Q4 2020 report.”
Read more about BNPL: Credit Card Killer? Buy Now, Pay Later Booms With Young Americans | Apple’s Decision to Self-Finance Its BNPL Offering Raises Key Questions, Observers Say | Buy Now, Pay Later: A New Generation of Credit Cards