In November, Google Inc will cease the operations of its Checkout online payment service after nearly 7 years. Google Checkout online payment service was touted as a rival to PayPal, this was announced last May through a blog post.
According to the post, the internet search giant indicated that Google Checkout was being retired in line with the company’s shift to Google Wallet another mobile payment service. Existing merchants that hold payment processing agreements with Google are advised to take up the services of Google’s new Instant Buy service, a new service recently announced as Google Wallet. Users of Instant Buy using a minimum of data entry are able to purchase goods within Android apps.
Those merchants using Checkout that don’t have a payment processor have until November to find one. Google had posted that there existed discounted agreements with three online processors namely Braintree, Freshbooks, and Shopify, these online processors were to take on Checkout merchants. Developers selling through Checkout on Google’s app store, Google Play, will “transition to the Google Wallet Merchant Center in the next few weeks.”
Google’s decision to shut down its online payment service couldn’t have come at a better time, there is a lot of excitement, surrounding Google’s Wallet. In addition to Instant Buy, there have been announcements of two other new Google Wallet services. These includes a individual based payment service that works with Gmail as well as a programming interface that lets Wallet support coupons.
Google through Osama Bedier, a top Wallet executive had announced in October of a major Wallet overhaul, the recent new services fall short of the promised overhaul. Leading to further speculation about the product’s future, especially after the exit of Osama Bedier from Google.
The product has been struggling with consumers and merchants adoption since its September 2011 roll out. In its effort to revamp and breathe in a new lease of life into the product, Google let go its dependence on mobile devise communication for a server based alternative. Wallet’s accessibility is limited to a few handsets, with Sprint being the only major carrier supporting it.
Google Checkout history is equally checkered after launching to substantial fanfare as a rival to PayPal Inc.’s in June 2006. Among the products highlight was its merchant pricing which was lower as compared to PayPal’s, coupled with a $10 offer processing fee from Google for every dollar spent on AdWords.
Google would in March 2009, drop the free processing offer while resetting Checkout pricing to match those of PayPal. This move by Google resulted in slowing the product’s momentum among merchants. Google would eventually decide to fold Checkout into Wallet by late 2011.
References
Google Checkout, Once a PayPal Rival, Will Shut Down in Six Months As Google Pushes Wallet “News.” Digitaltransactions.com. N.p., 21 May 2013. Web. 26 June 2013.