Google's Senior Product Manager, Jerry Dischler announced today that Google Checkout would now be available to online shops and shoppers in the United Kingdom. Millions of buyers in the US have already taken advantage of this exciting alternative to Paypal, and Google has offered numerous incentives for shops and shoppers to use the Google Checkout service.
Mr Dischler stated:
"From now until 2008, merchants that offer Checkout in the UK will receive free transaction processing for all of their Checkout sales. And just so buyers don't feel left out, we're giving them £10 off all orders over £30."
Google Checkout's official blog details that shops in the UK who offer Google Checkout to their customers are likely to benefit from increased sales, higher conversion rates and lower transaction processing costs.
Once signed up to Google Checkout, users will be able to operate the service using one login, one shopping basket and one checkout - regardless of the number of retailers involved in the transaction.
"By integrating the checkout process with search and advertising, we're helping our users complete the cycle of searching, finding and buying," claims Salar Kamangar, Vice President of Product Management at Google.
Google Checkout supported merchants can be identified by a Checkout logo alongside their paid search results. Google hopes this feature will tempt consumers to click on the ads.
It certainly seems that the search giant is using Google Checkout as much to its advantage as possible. For instance, Google's dedicated shopping site, Google Base, has options to search through Google Checkout stores only. So the question is, will Google Checkout become widely adopted in the UK and will consumers use it? For stores currently using Paypal services - Checkout's main rival - it would make sense to migrate to Google Checkout because of the obvious incentives detailed above.
But while Google Checkout is certainly cheaper than Paypal, for the general public, Paypal still has one up on Google in that it can transfer person-to-person payments. However, the benefits of Google Checkout are considerable and it's expected that it will match Paypal in the provision of this service in the very near future.
