According to Google, the abandonment rate of shopping carts on mobile is a whopping 97%. With that, they’re providing an HTML5 autocomplete function in mobile Chrome, and a new Google Wallet “Instant Buy” API to fill out info in three steps: checkout button, review billing and shipping, and submit. That’s down from these 21 steps, as outlined during today’s Google I/O keynote:
1. Checkout Button
2. Sign in or Guest
3. Billing name
4. Credit Card Type
5. Cred Card Number
6. Expiration – MM
7. Expiration – YY
8. Credit Card CSC
9. Billing Address
10. Billing City
11. Billing State
12. Billing Zip
13. Billing Country
14. Shipping Address
15. Shipping City
16. Shipping State
17. Shipping Zip
18. Shipping Country
19. Shipping telephone
20. Contact Email
21. Submit
So yeah, it’s easy to see where Google’s model could be a bit more helpful.
The Verge, liveblogging the event, says, “BIg play from Google to take its payment service to mobile in a subtle way.”
New web platform payment feature will make it easier to fill out forms and shop on mobile.#io13 #keynote #io13chrome
— Google Developers (@googledevs) May 15, 2013
An important tip for webmasters: add autocomplete to your web forms: youtube.com/watch?v=wtZOIV… Helps with mobile checkout. #io13
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 15, 2013
Update: Google has put a blog post out shedding more light on this announcement, which is an invitation to developers in the U.S. to sign up for the Google Wallet Instant Buy Android API.
Google’s Prakash Hariramani explains, “The Instant Buy API is designed for merchants and developers selling physical goods and services, who already have a payment processor and are looking to simplify the checkout experience for their customers. Developers selling digital goods within their apps will continue to use Google Play In-app Billing, which offers full payment processing capability, including support for carrier billing and gift cards.”
More at the blog.