PayPal Expands One Touch Program to New Markets in Europe, Australia

PayPal Holdings Inc said on Tuesday it would expand its One Touch payments product to 13 new markets in Europe and Australia, bringing a simpler check-out to online shoppers and merchants.

PayPal, which separated from eBay Inc last month, is a formidable player in the fast-growing payments industry, which has attracted new entrants like Apple Inc.

The company said "millions" of consumers had already enabled One Touch to make payments on desktops and through mobile apps in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and that half of the world's top 100 online retailers were already using the program.

Existing PayPal users can opt-in to use One Touch once and then no longer be required to re-enter their billing and shipping information into shopping apps or websites that support PayPal in their checkouts. Merchants that already accept PayPal will see One Touch automatically enabled, PayPal said.

A smoother shopping experience is crucial to online retailers as they often blame the high rates of unfinished or abandoned online sales on the tiring process of re-entering payment information.

PayPal said more than half of e-commerce shopping sessions are taking place on mobile but said that only around 10 to 15 percent of purchases occur on mobile devices.

"If consumers can't check out in one touch or tap and instead have to do data entry on theirmobile device they're far less likely to complete the transaction," Bill Ready, PayPal's senior vice president, said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"With One Touch, we're bridging that gap and creating better buying experiences for consumers, which in turn means higher conversions for merchants."

PayPal said the One Touch program had led to 50 percent or greater improvement in conversion rates and said it planned to eventually launch One Touch to all markets in which PayPal exists.

The company, which has more than 169 million customer accounts worldwide, processed 4 billion payments last year totalling $235 billion (roughly Rs. 15,56,294 crores). PayPal also said $40 billion (roughly Rs. 2,64,901 crores) was spent globally on mobile devices with the company.

© Thomson Reuters 2015