The web merchant explored using a one-click checkout since company executives knew that Amazon’s patent on the one-click technology would soon expire. Ultimately, Shop.com determined that one click wasn’t enough.

When it comes to giving consumers a fast and convenient checkout process, many retailers would say that the fewer clicks between a shopper clicking to add an item to cart and completing an order, the better.

That wasn’t the case, however, for Shop.com, the retailer and online marketplace owned by Market America, which recently determined that a two-click checkout was better for its business. In the past couple weeks, Shop.com rolled out an ExpressPay feature on its shopping cart that reduced the number of clicks to two from four or five.

After a Shop.com customer enables Express Pay ordering in his account, he will see an Express Pay button on every product detail page.

The Express Pay option is just below the Add to Cart button.

When a shopper is signed into the site and clicks the Express Pay button, he is taken to a one-page checkout page that features his pre-selected address and payment method. He can then pick his delivery method and complete the purchase.

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The Express Pay option was the result of a four-month discovery and development process at Shop.com during which the retailer surveyed customers, observed their on-site behavior and tested multiple options. Shop.com considered adding a one-click checkout option for consumers, Shop.com president and chief operating officer Steve Ashley says, as the merchant knew that Amazon’s patent on the one-click technology was about to expire.

“If you go to any one-click checkout and ask 10 or 15 people to go through and use it, you will see an instant fear with those people,” he says. “They’ll really have to stop and think about it. And often they’ll say, ‘Oh, I don’t know how much is in my cart,’ or, ‘I don’t know how much they’re charging me for this.’ We don’t want people to have to think before they check out.”

When an Amazon customer enables one-click ordering on her account, she sees a Buy Now with 1-Click button on all product pages, just below the Add to Cart button. Clicking on the Buy Now with 1-Click button completes the order in its entirety—there’s no confirmation page, selection of shipping options or the ability to edit a shopping cart.

The extra click for Shop.com gives consumers the added step and comfort of seeing what’s in their shopping cart and confirming their order, Ashley says. Plus, they have an option to add a coupon code or edit items in their cart. The latter feature was necessary because Shop.com uses what it calls a “sticky cart,” which means items added to a shopping cart stay in the cart until removed.

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In the 10 days since rolling out the Express Pay feature, Shop.com customers have been pleased, Ashley says.

The merchant gets a daily report on customer satisfaction. “Without a doubt, since we have put this in, the number one customer feedback is oh my goodness this is the easiest it can get for checkout,” he says. “it just goes to show us how needed the was for us both for our customers and in the marketplace.”

Shop.com is No. 66 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 1000.

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