E-tailers must address alt payment barriers, PPRO Group

67% of UK consumers have abandoned an online retail transaction due to frustrations over the payment process, according to research by PPRO Group involving 1,000 people.

Shoppers increasingly expect a variety of payment methods to be made available when online. Yet 15% claim their expectations aren’t met and 77% stated they would not be happy to pay for goods online if there were methods they hadn’t heard of. Half of those surveyed said that PayPal was their most popular method, while more unfamiliar offerings, such as Direct Debit at 3% up from 0.3% and e-wallets at 1%, are creeping into the UK market for the first time.

“Payment methods play a huge part in the online customer journey and all it takes is one bad experience in a first transaction with a new retailer and a potentially loyal customer is easily lost to a competitor,” comments Jack Ehlers, Director of Payment Partnerships at PPRO Group.

“The first step to securing consumer confidence and driving sales as well as global business growth, is to understand the culture of payments. Not only must the website be designed with the customer journey in mind to make it easy to navigate, but if the customer reaches the checkout and their preferred payment isn’t available, all that investment to get them to the site in the first place is wasted.”

He concludes: “By removing the boundaries and complexities of alternative payment methods, consumers can ultimately buy what they want, where they want and how they want, increasing opportunities for retailers. If these barriers aren’t addressed, the future for new online retailers is severely limited.”