April 13th, 2007 by Wendy McAuliffe
Google has launched its payment service, Google Checkout, in the UK today. It will compete directly with both mainstream card processing services and eBay’s Paypal service.
It’s another shrewd move by the search giant, as not only does the scheme offer long-term incentives to advertisers with a Google Checkout option, but it will also enable Google to begin collecting data on consumer online shopping habits.
If early signs are any indicator of merchant interest - I’ve received three emails today from well-known internet retailers, announcing their uptake of Google Checkout.
With general apathy in the market towards Verified by Visa (of which the usability is awful in my opinion), there is definitely room in the market for a competitor to Paypal. The strength of the Google brand will undoubtedly help consumers to perceive Checkout as a trustworthy payment service.
I’m intrigued to test out the user experience of Checkout - any excuse to shop!
