Why have different payment platforms? They are advocating the change as ‘building one wallet’. Also, the move makes sense, as the two services have essentially the same functionality, and now it will be consolidated into one single wallet.
Google is always looking to simplify things for its users tapping the right resources, and is also aware that the holiday shopping season is a particularly bad time for online payment systems to malfunction, so it has most likely kept the initial integration work between Wallet and Checkout to a basic, simple level, said Aaron McPherson, practice director for Payments and Security at IDC.
Moving forward, Google also said that it will start to incorporate Google Wallet as the main payment method in the Android Market, on YouTube and Google+ Games and other Google sites where e-commerce transactions occur, according to a post by Ben Lee, Google Wallet’s Product Manager.
Image Credit: (via Flickr/kennejima)
Besides, the announcement seems to represent that at this point Google is mostly rebranding Checkout with the Wallet name, and not doing anything radical on the back end like ripping out the Checkout system and rebuilding it with a different Wallet design, he said.
“It looks they are moving slow with the integration,” he said. “I’m sure they would not disable anything within Checkout, so it should work as it did before.” In general, the move makes sense. “I see it as a natural progression of their strategy,” he said.
More importantly, the current consolidation indicates no changes for merchants, but there are a few things Google has said will help consumers. Firstly, Wallet users will save time, paying in a simple and safe way. When shopping with a vendor that accepts Google Wallet, all users need is their username and password to finalize a purchase, no need to re-input credit card numbers or billing addresses every time.
One objective may be to link Google Offers, the company’s online coupon service, with this unified payments platform, to pitch special deals to shoppers based on their transaction history, McPherson said.
“If Google can get people to use [they e-payment system] more, it will have more data, which in turn will make Offers more relevant and attract more merchants,” he said. “I think they are attempting to get that virtuous cycle going.”
Launched September in New York and San Francisco, Google Wallet is the company’s attempt to entice users to pay for goods from Android smartphones at more than 20 retailers, including Macy’s, Toys R Us and American Eagle. Consumers with Sprint Samsung Nexus S 4G phones can pay for goods in those stores by tapping and paying against sales terminals.
Google Checkout was launched in 2006 generated a buzz as a “PayPal killer” but it has never quite come close to fulfilling that prediction. “The main challenge for Google is to get more adoption from buyers and merchants,” McPherson said.
“We are committed to upgrading our payment solutions for merchants while ensuring they are able to process payments without any hindrance during the holidays–so shoppers using Google Wallet will be able to make purchases seamlessly on merchant sites that accept Google Checkout,” says Google Wallet Product Manager Ben Lee. “Early next year, we will coordinate closely with our merchant partners to switch to the Google Wallet logo and share details on new and upcoming features.”
Checkout users have to retain their credit or debit card and shipping details in their Google Account so they can buy items at participating stores by clicking a button online. Whereas, Wallet will continue to enable users to make purchases in stores from their mobile phones, and add the ability to buy goods from their home computers. Wallet will also become the payment method for applications in Google’s Android Market, movies on YouTube, titles residing on Google+ Games, among other Google sites.
Starting today, you should be able to include a Citi MasterCard to the Google Wallet mobile app, which will also be available for use when you show with Google Wallet online.
Current Google Checkout users can automatically transition their accounts to Gogole Wallet the next time they sign in or make a purchase online. Google has posted an FAQ page about the transition plan, where it addresses a number of issues in more detail than in the blog post.
Purchase history info is available here.
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