The options for small companies considering selling product over the Web increased last month when Internet search giant Google entered the online transaction business with the launch of Google Checkout.
The service also works with Google’s search advertising programme, AdWords, to help merchants acquire new customers and process all or a portion of their Checkout sales for free.
Vice president of product management at Google, Salar Kamangar, said integrating the checkout process with search and advertising, would help users “complete the cycle of searching, finding and buying”.
With Google Checkout, users login from a merchant’s site with a single username and password by entering basic information, such as their contact details, payment preferences, and shipping information, once. Their log in information can then be used at any store that has Google Checkout so they don’t have to fill in more forms and they can keep track of their purchase history, including orders and shipping details, in one place.
Google claims Checkout also helps merchants streamline the checkout process and they can attract more customers and increase sales through its links with AdWords. Advertisers with AdWords can also process all or a portion of their sales for free.
For every $1 merchants spend on AdWords, they can process $10 in sales through Google Checkout at no charge. Merchants that don’t use Adwords can process sales at a cost of two per cent of the purchase and $0.20 per transaction.
The launch pits Google against eBay’s PayPal service which charges a transaction fee of $0.30 and a percentage of the transaction cost, varying from 1.9 per cent to 3.4 per cent.
A number of stores have already signed up to Checkout in the US including Starbucks Store, Levi’s, Timberland and Buy.com. The service is open to all US merchants, irrespective of they advertise with Google, and the company is working to make the service available to merchants internationally.
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