BlueSnap Adds Checkout Tools to Stand Out Against Stripe, PayPal

A lot of companies are lining up to provide payment pages for e-commerce merchants, and BlueSnap is working to set its own offering apart by adding design options for checkout.

"We're competing with companies like [PayPal's] Braintree and Stripe all the time," said Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO of BlueSnap. "What we're looking to do is allow merchants to customize the payments page so it looks like the Web page, without having to do development tied to that."

The feature is part of an evolution away from older methods of e-commerce payments, in which consumers were redirected to a dedicated payments page after picking items for purchase on a retailers' website, Dangelmaier said.

"So a whole new site would come up and shoppers would freak out," Dangelmaier said. "It's a horrible way to handle payments."

BlueSnap's BuyNow Builder allows merchants to configure payment methods, install descriptors and generate custom product links for use in emails, social media posts, Web copy and other marketing materials. Merchants can also configure callback URLs, which is the Web address the shopper sees post-purchase; and soft descriptors, or the text on a cardholder's statement that describes the purchase.

BuyNow Builder also enables merchants to create, edit and manage checkout page skins, including logos, colors, fonts, fields and menu options in an attempt to give the homepage and checkout page a consistent brand appearance.

While the payments industry has moved toward open development tools, such as software development kits or application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable merchants to build payment pages, BlueSnap hopes that by hosting added tools for color, fonts and other design elements, it will make it easier for non-technical merchants to add payment function with minimal development.

BlueSnap also recently added bank transfers and coupons to its developer tools, as well as tools for phone-based sales.

The marketplace of API providers has become crowded, leading companies to differentiate their offerings for smaller businesses, which are often slow to adopt new technology.

Stripe, for example, recently partnered with GoDaddy to speed credit approval and card acceptance.

GoDaddy also recently launched its own service to enable small businesses to build their own customized Web store. GoDaddy manages the website construction and coding, while the merchant supplies the store name, product description and price. GoDaddy also supports PayPal Here's SDK.

Other examples include Moonclerk, which offers a low-tech option for online merchants to add a checkout page, and Facebook, which uses developer tools from PayPal's Braintree to help merchants get started.