I read an interesting statistic yesterday regarding the payment processing battle going on between Google with their Checkout Program and Paypal with their Express Program. It seems Internet Retailer has taken it upon themselves to ask the top 200 Online retailers which Payment Processing Programs they like best and why. The results are quite surprising to say the least.
Since it’s launch in summer 2006 eCommerce analysts have predicted that Google would have a hard time competing with a service like the one Paypal offers since Paypal has been around for so much longer and have a universally recognized brand name and service. Boy were analysts wrong on that one. Not only has Google been able to compete successfully, they have managed to capture a corner of the market that Paypal has solely owned for years. Currently, out of 200 top retailers, 13% now accept Google Checkout over the 10.5% that accept Paypal Express.
A growing number of major online retailers are allowing customers to pay with Google Checkout, and adoption would be even faster were it not for concerns on the part of retailers about sharing transaction data with Google, according to a new report by analyst Jim Friedland of investment firm Cowen and Company.
That article is definitely worth a read if you have a second to spare. What surprised me most about the write-up was the end part about Bill Me Later and the amount of merchants who offer that as a payment method. Who would have thought that would become as successful as it has? Once you finish reading that one, head on over to Marketing Pilgrim and check out their follow-up article called “Merchant Adoption Rates of Google Checkout vs. Paypal Express.”
The second article does a great job of sorting out the different service offerings and gives a lot of quality insights into the benefits or reasons why top merchants prefer using Google Checkout over Paypal Express.
Another recent benefit released via the Google Checkout blog is that merchants who use FedEx can save up to 21% on their shipping costs. PayPal offers a Shipping Center but there are no special incentive shipping rates with carriers, just free USPS and eBay branded boxes for your business.
