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Amazon’s one-click patent expiration: Boon for ecommerce checkouts

September 27, 2017

Casey Gannon is vice president of marketing at Shopgate Casey Gannon is vice president of marketing at Shopgate

 

By Casey Gannon

Amazon a couple of weeks ago lost its tightly-held grip on the One-Click Buying patent, which allows consumers to quickly complete their order without having to re-enter their credit card information or go through a lengthy checkout process.

With the expiration of Amazon’s One-Click buying patent, retailers are left with a game-changing opportunity to leverage similar technologies, a functionality that can help reduce cart abandonment and increase their competitiveness against Amazon, especially when it comes to mobile commerce.

Hoarse about cart
Cart abandonment, especially with mobile consumers, is the most prevalent challenge that retailers face.

With abandonment rates estimated by some to be as high as 75 percent, retailers must use every means possible to ensure completed checkouts.

The ability for all retailers to now adopt one-click technologies within a retailer’s desktop site, mobile Web site and mobile application will inevitably increase conversions throughout all channels, giving retailers a level-playing field against Amazon when it comes to convenience.

It is all about the clicks
Just as the one-click buying feature drastically reduces the number of clicks that your consumer has to take to get through the path to purchase, retailers should take a deep dive into how to reduce clicks throughout their entire experience.

With a mobile app, retailers are removing additional clicks – or, as I call it, taps – by sending push notifications instead of emails.

Not only does the push notification mirror the demand of consumers for quick, relevant content, the experience continues to deliver on this demand by creating an opportunity for retailers to send consumers directly to their cart with the product and coupons added.

Push notification to shopping cart to one-click buying – that is only three clicks to purchase.

On tap
What today’s consumers demand is a fully connected experience, one where everything comes together to create a quick, painless and satisfying shopping experience.

Amazon knows this better than anyone.

Even with the expiration of the one-click patent, the retail juggernaut knows that paying close attention to consumers’ mobile shopping activity and, better yet, providing an enhanced experience for their mobile shopping choices will help influence decisions when it comes to shopping.

Amazon will continue to push the envelope on retail innovation, and mobile has already proven to play a significant part in its strategy.

TIMELINESS IS THE single most vital aspect of the decision-making process, so it will be critical for retailers to adopt one-click checkout processes, as well as leverage deep links, social login and other streamlined payment options to most effectively capture the mobile user in the right moment – the exact moment that they are browsing.

Casey Gannon is vice president of marketing at Shopgate, Austin, TX. Reach her at casey.gannon@shopgate.com.