Retail Customers Demand Simpler Checkout Experiences

Shoppers increasingly expect retailers to simplify their checkout processes, as both expert insights and surveys of consumers reveal.

In the recent PYMNTS report “What’s Next in Payments: Payments Modernization,” 15 payments and financial services executives look at the necessity of bringing payments up to date. Justin Downey, vice president of product at Maverick Payments, notes how providing more frictionless checkout experiences can be key to ensuring a positive consumer experience.

“Business that can adapt to very convenient ways for customers to pay are going to win in the long run … so staying on top of offerings for a streamlined payment and checkout approach is a heavy focus,” Downey told PYMNTS in an interview for the report.

Take eCommerce. The PYMNTS Intelligence study “The Online Features Driving Consumers to Shop With Brands, Retailers or Marketplaces,” done in collaboration with Adobe, is based on a survey in of over 3,500 U.S. consumers that explores their online shopping preferences and behaviors. The findings indicated that 50% of consumers consider the ease of a merchant’s checkout process when choosing where to shop.

“Anything that makes processes quicker and easier with less obstacles for customers, that’s where the excitement is,” Downey said.

Major retailers are innovating in this area. Marko Ivanovic, director of digital payments at Adidas, told PYMNTS in an interview last year that the footwear brand is looking to provide more frictionless payment experiences both online and in stores.

“We’re already offering a range of mobile payment methods, like Apple Pay, Google Pay and WeChat Pay. We also launched PayPal in stores. For us, it’s members first, one-click checkout, especially for the young generations that do everything with their mobile,” Ivanovic said.

The 2022 report “Building A Better Online Checkout Experience: The Key Features That Matter To Customers,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Checkout.com collaboration, found that two-thirds of consumers say that having a satisfying checkout experience is very or extremely influential on their willingness to shop with a merchant again. Plus, the most common pain point during online transactions that consumers experience, the study found, is a frustrating checkout process.

Yet a shorter path to purchase is not always better. In an interview with PYMNTS, Sean Knotts, the director of global eCommerce at Sonos, said the audio equipment company has been redesigning the cart and checkout processes to meet consumers’ expectations of a digital journey that shows that it takes seriously their high-value purchases.

“We ran … some user testing, and that indicated that actually moving away from the very ubiquitous single-page checkout flow to a three-step design, which … used to be the industry norm, was actually 4% easier for users to navigate,” Knotts said, noting that adding these steps helped consumers trust the process.

As consumer expectations continue to evolve, the emphasis on a seamless checkout experience is more crucial than ever for retailers. Insights from industry experts and comprehensive consumer surveys underscore the necessity for businesses to adapt and modernize their payment processes. By prioritizing ease of checkout and incorporating customer feedback, retailers can not only enhance user satisfaction but also foster long-term loyalty in an increasingly competitive market.

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