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Online-only retailer zulily Inc.’s decision to add Apple Pay as an in-app payment option is about making it easier for consumers to shop and pay on a small screen, the women’s and children’s clothing retailer says.
The in-app variation of Apple Pay relies on the Touch ID sensor built into the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad Mini 3. Users confirm their mobile commerce purchases by pressing a finger against the Touch ID sensor. Doing so enables the consumer to use already-enrolled payment cards and shipping and billing addresses within Apple Pay instead of typing that information on the smart phone’s or tablet’s screen.
“We decided to support Apple Pay to provide our iOS customers who use Apple Pay or will move to Apple Pay over time a seamless experience,” Mona Akmal, zulily vice president of store, tells Digital Transactions News via email. Adopting Apple Pay will make it easier for consumers to shop and make their purchases, she says. In addition to accepting credit and debit cards bearing Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express marks, zulily also accepts PayPal and Visa Checkout.
Easing the checkout process, especially on mobile devices, is critical for merchants trying to improve their conversion rats. Zulily says 56% of its orders in the second quarter were placed from mobile devices.
“The launch of Apple Pay is pretty recent so we don’t have a ton of data yet, but we’re seeing good usage for our iOS 8 users and conversion rates look strong as well,” Akmal says, adding that’s too soon to determine if data such as conversion rate or average ticket will differ from other zulily payment options “because this is primarily going to be used by newer customers. For existing customers, we already have payment methods set up so the reasons for switching to Apple Pay are more limited.”
Despite the struggle among online merchants to boost mobile conversion rates, only about 28% of retailers consider in-app payments valuable, finds a survey from retail advisory firm Retail Systems Research LLC.
