Vodafone UK Part of Google Checkout Network Now Just before the Q4 shopping season Vodafone UK opted for Google Checkout to see more visitors to their site, higher conversion rates and an increase in the return on investment for their AdWords spendings as well as helping Google’s Checkout service gain new users.

• Google's Integrated Checkout Strategy
• Google UK Checkout Doing Well after 3 Months
• Google Checkout Launched in the UK Today
• Google Authorized for E-Money by UK-Based FSA

I'm just wondering when GC will arrive at Germany, rumors say 2008...

(Via Google Checkout Blog)

Labels: checkout, google, uk, vodafone

  ¶ 'Vodafone UK Part of Google Checkout Network Now' posted by eA : 12:39 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Google UK Checkout Doing Well after 3 Months 3 Months after their UK launch the first success stories from happy customers are available now. Ebuyer.com which offers brand name computer technology and consumer electronics through both, Google Checkout and Paypal's Express Checkout, to it's customers reports in a featured case study:

'We’ve already seen more visitors to the site, higher conversion rates and an increase in the return on investment for our AdWords spend.'

'Our customers just can’t get enough of Google Checkout! The launch promotion drove a lot of the traffic initially but we expect customers to continue to use Google Checkout because of the convenience that it offers.'

DiamondGeezer.com which offers high quality diamond jewellery online shopping including high ticket items far beyond £10.000 reports:

'Checkout has increased consumer trust in our brand and the service that we offer.'

UK stores, that accept GC include ProFilmGear (video and photo gear) partner of Channel Advisor’s ecommerce network, SportsHQ (golf equipment), iFlorist (flowers) and many other sellers in 17 categories.

eCommerce maturing in the US is moving "full steam ahead" and is years away from saturation, with double-digit growth expected for several years. With surpassing PayPal's Express Checkout in the US in terms of Checkout seller adoption and with the further progress of eCommerce Google is more and more tapping into eBay's fixed price business competing in products, customers and business model and has shown that GC is a formidable competitor to Paypal's Express Checkout.

• Google's Integrated Checkout Strategy
• More on Checkout

I'm expecting Google to launch in further European countries including Germany. To benefit from the initial launch promotion it's recommended to be an early adopter of GC.

Labels: checkout, ecommerce, google, uk

  ¶ 'Google UK Checkout Doing Well after 3 Months' posted by eA : 9:55 PM  2 comments links to this post

  Google Checkout Launched in the UK Today 9 and 1/2 months after initial launch in the US and 3 weeks after being certified for e-money by the UK-based FSA Google Checkout launched as expected within Europe of course first in the UK.

• Google Authorized for E-Money by UK-Based FSA
• Clever Checkout for eCommerce Platforms: Google Checkout (US)
• More on Checkout
  

From initial advertising to final checkout it's an experience that reduces costs of Google AdWords campaigns through clever financial incentives providing free transaction processing until 2008. It's also a good base for strategic partnerships.

• Releasing My Current Skill Set

Centralization into a single online payment method provides many practical benefits for citizens, I'm thinking of travelling, buying goods and services abroad, particularly when coupled with the progress of e-commerce it is a big step forward in user friendliness.

Main Competitor is PayPal.

Labels: checkout, ecommerce, google, payments, uk

  ¶ 'Google Checkout Launched in the UK Today' posted by eA : 11:56 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Google Authorized for E-Money by UK-Based FSA Well, payments is one of the most regulated businesses online, but it's also a very innovative way to differentiate one's business by new payments models. Customers like to buy what they want wherever they are and it is just a question of time that Google will expand into the European payments market.

I haven't heard yet an official statement from Google, but on a blog post from Linkdump on Payments I found a quotation of an FSA register search:

• Google - 462517 - Google Payment Limited, authorised, also for issuing electronic money (Mar/19/2007)
  
• Paypal - 226056 - Paypal (Europe) Ltd, authorised, issuing electronic money (Feb/13/2004)
  

where PayPal has about 35 mio. customers across Europe. I did a bit of research out of my head and searched for German-based Click&Buy (~7 mio. customers ww) and UK-based Moneybookers (~2.8 mio. customers ww):

• 454127 - ClickandBuy (Europe) Ltd, authorised, issuing electronic money (Nov/29/2006)
• 214225 - Moneybookers Ltd, authorised, issuing electronic money (Feb/05/2003)

Both are authorized for e-money, too. The e-money license allows to offer a variety of financial services online including to send money worldwide to anyone with an email address, which has a very strong viral character and international transactions can be offered cheaper than by banks and traditional money transfer companies.

UK is the best place to acquire the e-money license across Europe and being certified by the FSA means to meet the highest standards in the financial world online.

More on Google Checkout

Labels: bizdev, checkout, ecommerce, google, payments, uk

  ¶ 'Google Authorized for E-Money by UK-Based FSA' posted by eA : 6:15 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Continued Growth in UK eCommerce Markets, Ikea's Coming Running eCommerce operations in Germany, Sweden, France and the US, Ikea quietly added a checkout to it's UK website for the instant restricted to certain shipping areas and entered the newly released Top 50 list of UK online retailers. From InternetRetailing:

1. Amazon UK
2. Argos
3. Tesco.com
4. Play.com
5. easyJet
6. Expedia.co.uk
7. Amazon.com
8. Thomson Holidays
9. British Airways
10. Apple Computer
...
49. Ikea

Nothing new in the top rank..., more than 50% are existing bricks-and-mortar retailers, half of the UK top 50 companies sell travel and tickets to their audience.

Labels: bizdev, ecommerce, europe, markets, uk

  ¶ 'Continued Growth in UK eCommerce Markets, Ikea's Coming' posted by eA : 8:28 PM  0 comments links to this post