Keeping the purchase process short and sweet is driving mobile sales for two merchants using a checkout program from Google Inc. for Android apps and mobile commerce sites that enables shoppers to purchase in two clicks.

Google introduced the offering, called the Instant Buy Application Programming Interface, or API, to its Google Wallet payments service in May. Consumers who have signed up for Google Wallet can now check out in Android apps and via mobile sites that have implemented Instant Buy without having to manually enter their billing or shipping information. Consumers use payment information they have stored with Google Wallet, whittling the checkout process in many cases to two clicks, Google says.

Two web-only merchants using the service are flash-sale fashion retailer Rue La La and consumer electronics retailer Newegg.com. Both are reporting solid early results with the mobile payment option.

Rue La La says 40% of its sales come from its mobile site and apps. Because Rue La La offers sales for a limited time, shoppers essentially compete for a limited inventory of styles, so it is important for them to be able to browse and buy quickly from a smartphone, the retailer says. In an attempt to make it easy and quick for its mobile shoppers to check out fast, Rue La La in May added Google Wallet Instant Buy to its Android app.

Android app mobile transactions completed with Google Wallet quadrupled within the first few weeks after Rue La La added Instant Buy, the retailer says. And, from May to August, shoppers who checked out with the payments offering spent four times more on average than other Android app shoppers who did not use Google Wallet Instant Buy. Rue La La says it took less than two weeks to add the Instant Buy option.

Web-only merchant Newegg added Google Wallet Instant Buy to its mobile site earlier this year. The retailer says now nearly 10% of mobile site purchases are paid for using the Google service. Newegg’s mobile web shoppers also convert 100% more often when using the feature compared to those who start checking out with other payment options, the retailer says.

Newegg chief marketing officer Soren Mills says the simplicity and convenience tied to Instant Buy is driving conversions. “Newegg wants to be first with innovation, especially if it helps our customers. Now our shoppers can see something and immediately buy,” he says.

Mills adds that many more shoppers will be buying on the go via their smartphones this year, especially as Dec. 25 draws closer, because the prime Thanksgiving-to-Christmas shopping period is six days shorter than last year.

“People are buying gifts whenever they have a few spare moments,” Mills says. “That is very conducive to mobile shopping.”

Rue La La is No. 11 in the Internet Retailer Mobile 500, Newegg is No. 62.

 

Favorite