Amazon is largely known globally for its e-tail operations. What factors have determined the company to enter the payments industry?
Amazon has a long history of taking complex things and making them simple and affordable for other businesses: Amazon Marketplace, Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment by Amazon and Amazon Media Group, just to name a few.
As a merchant that has accepted online payments for nearly 20 years, we have a unique perspective as we develop solutions and services for other merchants. We talk to business owners every day and they tell us that they would like a simpler way to accept payments. Our aim was therefore to develop a simple online payments solution for merchants of all sizes around the world to help them grow their business and connect with Amazon’s loyal customer base, including Amazon Prime members.
Pay with Amazon brings the trusted and familiar Amazon buying experience to third party merchants, so they can get back to serving customers and doing what they do best: selling great products and services that delight customers.
Pay with Amazon extends the experience that Amazon customers have come to enjoy and trust on Amazon to thousands of websites around the world. Pay with Amazon makes it easy for millions of shoppers to make purchases online with the payment and shipping information already stored in their Amazon account.
Could you share with us the main features of the Amazon Payments solution and those which make it stand apart from the other solutions?
Pay with Amazon helps businesses of all sizes – in particular small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – connect with Amazon’s loyal customer base, including Amazon Prime Members. A couple points are worth noting:
The Trust Factor – Over the last 20 years, Amazon’s customers have come to trust Amazon with their payment information. Our goal is to enable customers to shop with the same confidence with third party merchants. Pay with Amazon brings the trust and familiarity of Amazon’s checkout experience to third party merchants, reducing cart abandonment and extending Amazon’s trust factor to their business.
Connect with Amazon Customers – including Amazon Prime customers. Many of these SMEs are increasingly looking at ways to reach Prime customers and Pay with Amazon is one way to do so.
A simple online payment solution – Pay with Amazon takes the burden of online payments away from merchants.
In relation to the previous question, could you please familiarise our readership with the way Amazon Payments works?
Millions of Amazon customers can login and pay on merchants’ websites using their Amazon account information without the need to create an account to go through the checkout.
For customers, they use one account they trust where their shipping address and payment methods are securely stored, to shop on third-party merchant websites.
For merchants, offering Amazon Payments helps them establish trust and maintain their brand experience. One of our merchants, AllSaints.com, had reported a 34% increase in basket conversion as a result of using Pay with Amazon; whilst Soak & Sleep, another merchant who implemented Amazon Payments on their checkout, had reported a 67% decrease in basket abandonment. This is due to the fact that customers recognise and trust the brand when they see the Amazon logo.
In which regions is the solution available?
’We’re working with some great merchants , such as AllSaints.com across their US, DE and UK sites, Smith’s hotel in UK (mrandmrssmith.com), Adidas in Japan, and Butlers in Germany (www.butlers.de) to name a few.
This year we launched the Amazon Payments Partner Program - a new global program designed to help ecommerce platform providers and developers extend the trust and familiarity of Amazon Payments to their merchant customers.
The Partner Program provides ecommerce platform providers and developers with unique tools and services to help grow their business with Amazon Payments. The program is free to participate in and available to partners in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan.
In terms of eCommerce platforms, we work with PrestaShop, FutureShop and Shopify. Each of these partners is working with us because of the reasons I listed above – the Amazon brand offers Amazon customers a trusted, familiar and convenient buying experience.
How does your solution help convert visitors and leverage payment flow?
Amazon Payments provides a seamless experience for customers landing on a merchant’s checkout page. First, there is the simplicity of the experience. We have measured the average checkout experience across a number of retailers at three-and-a-half minutes or more and cut it to about one-and-a half minutes or less. That can significantly help to lower cart abandonment rates.
The average cart abandonment rate tends to be about 70%. However, the average cart conversion with Pay with Amazon tends to be about 70 percent (Baymard Institute, Dec 2014).
Can you share with us some stats about Amazon Payments transaction volume, usage per countries, as well as per age group and per payment channel?
Last year was an exciting year for Amazon Payments and our merchant customers – in the US, Europe and Japan:
Worldwide stats:
Since 2013, more than 23 million customers have used their Amazon account to make a purchase on third-party merchant websites;
Worldwide active customer accounts grew to approximately 285 MM in Q1 2016, compared with 260 MM in Q1 2015;
More than 50% of Pay with Amazon customers are Prime members;
Customers from more than 150 countries have used their Amazon account to make a purchase on third-party merchant websites.
EU stats:
Pay with Amazon buyers spent on average EUR 100 (ww: 115 dollars) more in 2015 in EU comparing to the year before;
Merchants using Pay with Amazon in the EU grew more than 300 (ww: 200) percent year-over-year;
Customers using Pay with Amazon in the EU grew almost 350 (340, ww: 150) percent year-over-year;
Pay with Amazon payment volume in EU grew by more than 375 (ww: 150) percent year-over-year.
Merchant performance stats:
AllSaints: AllSaints is an iconic retailer from the UK that launched Login and Pay with Amazon on its website in September 2014. Since launching Login and Pay with Amazon last year, AllSaints has seen:
34% increase in cart conversion;
15% higher order value vs. alternative payment methods;
Reduced checkout time by 70 seconds.
Cymax: Cymax, an online furniture retailer based in Vancouver, Canada launched Login and Pay with Amazon in early 2016. Since launching Login and Pay with Amazon, Cymax has seen:
Account registrations triple, leading to an increase in sales;
Nearly 27% of its customers choose to use Login and Pay with Amazon when making purchases on Cymax.com.
Ting: Ting was one of our launch merchants for recurring payments in May 2015. Since launching Login and Pay with Amazon, Ting has seen:
30% higher average order value with Amazon Payments than with other payment methods;
23% increase in online conversion;
And one-tenth the decline rate with Amazon Payments vs. other payment methods.
About Patrick Gauthier
Patrick Gauthier is the Vice President of External Payment Services at Amazon. He is responsible for leading Amazon’s payment services for third party merchants globally including Pay with Amazon and the associated value added services.
About Amazon Payments
Amazon Payments extends the buying experience that millions of Amazon customers have and trust on Amazon, to thousands of merchants’ websites around the world. Amazon Payments makes it easy for millions of shoppers to make purchases online with the payment and shipping information already stored in their Amazon account. Amazon Payments can help merchants add new customers, increase sales and turn casual browsers into buyers. It’s fast, easy and trusted - leverage the Amazon brand to grow your business.
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