Pay with Google, which the company recently announced at its I/O conference, is a natural progression for the company’s payment efforts.
Google makes its money by putting its services on devices of any type, and this move furthers the company's strategy.
Google already has Android Pay, which offers one-touch purchasing for all Android devices. But the company rightly realized that there are hundreds of millions of users that store credit cards with Google but don’t use Android Devices. This is Google taking advantage of data they already have to improve functionality.
All in all, Google should have access to nearly 2 billion users across Android and Google properties, with more than 2 billion Android devices in use every day and a few hundred million Google accounts with credit cards. (Some people might have multiple devices.) As Google continues to train its users on the benefits of one-touch payments, it has the opportunity to skim a small percent off of an ever-growing volume of transactions from its user base.
In the past, retailers have given little attention to instant pay technologies like Apple Pay and Android Pay. But the bottom line is that consumers will spend more if they are presented with a positive shopping experience. Line-busting techniques like one-touch payment options can help brands enjoy enhanced opportunities to address the need for convenience and create one seamless, personalized process, online and offline. The less shoppers are waiting the more inclined they are to continue shopping.
For giants like Apple and Google, mobile wallet functions are a great notch on their belts for enhancing expectations around the consumer experience.
For retailers, the opportunity to increase conversion both online and offline is needed, since mobile conversion is often one third of what it is on desktop. Additionally, there’s no downside to putting more efforts into these areas. If more users turn to Google and Apple devices in place of a traditional wallet, it only increases the time they spend on their devices.
This furthers the virtuous adoption cycle and allows companies such as Google to continue selling ads and services. Apple is trying to catch up in this area, but I would expect further investment from both parties in the years to come. At the end of the day, the easier it is for shoppers to buy products, the more money they will spend a stores and the more time they will spend on their phones.
