30 June 2006 | Author: C. Philip

Google Checkout - The latest of the latest from Google

So what is the latest function from the busy bees in the development team at Google? It's Google Checkout, and bigmouthmedia takes a good look at the specifics.

As we all know, Google's offerings evolve at a frightening pace, with even the savviest of SEO blogsters having to stay on their toes to keep up. And the latest development is a biggie. It's the launch of Google Checkout, an online buying facility which may even challenge the E-Bay 'auction empire'.

Google will charge sellers a lower flat fee than PayPal (the E-bay affiliated payment system), with rates of 20 cents compared to 30 cents, but this will be at a higher percentage of 2 per cent versus 1.9 per cent. This pricing makes it more attractive for volume sellers of lower-priced items: sales under $100 will be cheaper on Google Checkout than PayPal. It is also interesting to note that EBay's shares have slipped with the launch of Google Checkout, dropping around 7% in the past week.

What's in it for Google?

Google's main source of revenue comes from advertising sales and Google Checkout has been designed, essentially, to boost this main revenue source. To give merchants an incentive, for every dollar they spend on advertising they will get $10 off the cost of processing orders they receive. Also, in certain cases, this new online ordering facility will offer free order processing to advertisers, but will initially be available only to US stores.

What's in it for the consumer?

Google have identified problems seen by consumers when purchasing online. Even now there are consumer insecurities when it comes to online ordering processes and the submission of credit card details. Google looks to close the sale where others wouldn't, by making online order placement foolproof. The new processing service will also make the submitting and tracking of orders easy.

Google Checkout stores your credit card number, mailing address, and other details of your order. A single page within Google Checkout displays how all of your orders are placed and Google limits how much of your information it shares with its vendor partners.

Having a single point storage room for all your orders makes online purchases much faster and simpler but Gmail users and those registered with a free Google service may have to beef up their security since one log-in name and password opens them all.

Why did Google launch Checkout?

This is a very interesting question and one that has attracted much speculation. Readers of the bigmouthmedia newsletter, however, will already know that Google's main industry competitor, Yahoo!, has recently partially merged with E-bay. Has this collaboration between the two heavyweights directly led to the launch of Google Checkout? Will we soon see the other top search engines launching payment systems or merging with auction sites? Or will they simply panic? The future's always a toughie to predict in the world of online search, but in essence it's another small puzzle in the future of our frantically-paced, online world.

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