Social Commerce Needs Easier Payment Solutions
One thing is quite clear, social commerce is gaining traction and will only get bigger and more profitable as the years pass. However, in order for social commerce to truly take off, online payment solutions need to get more effective, safer, faster and easier to use.
From the point of view of customers, one of the main benefits of social commerce is the ability to buy a product quickly. Or, in other words, pay without having to visit a whole range of websites and webpages and fill out forms upon forms. The latter is still a huge bottleneck for many social commerce, and other e-commerce sites.
Incorporating PayPal as a payment option is a huge step towards making paying for items, or services much faster and simpler. It is also a payment solution that too few online retailers take advantage of. And it does require that the buyer have a PayPal account, which not everyone does.
Another great solution is the One Click Check-Out, as the kind used by Amazon.com. After making the initial purchase, customers can simply choose a passphrase that will allow them to make all the subsequent purchases without the need to enter all the payment and billing information, and even without the need to sign in to their account. Obviously such a payment solution requires very robust and infallible security. It does, however, also give an added incentive to buy, since paying for the items is so simple.
Visa, the credit card giant, is also busy developing their so-called universal digital wallet. They recently announced that they plan to introduce a new, one-click payment solution that will enable Visa users to get a set of personalized credentials allowing them to buy things online with a single click. Visa believes that such a payment solution will guarantee their future growth and enable them to keep their good market position in the future, once social commerce and e-commerce really start to take off.
One of the biggest obstacles to creating more user-friendly online payment solutions right now remains the behind-the-scenes battle of all the companies trying to control this market, along with the digital wallet. They do, however, need to come up with an agreement soon, or they will be left behind in the dust of the newer and more modern online payment solution companies soon.
Yash Talreja
