What makes the optimal online checkout experience? A Retail Gazette report sponsored by PayPal

What customers do – and do not want – from online checkouts.

Making e-commerce easy is critical. Retailers are having to work hard to get their online propositions right. Consumers will be looking for product value, but they also want choice and frictionless experiences - a smooth user journey from login to checkout with no surprises.

The retailers’ perspective.

The report explores a collection of expert views on what makes a suitable digital UX and online checkout from retailers themselves. And in this challenging economic environment, retailers need to ensure they are not standing still.

Payments, innovation, and choice.

Research and analyst group Forrester suggests that a business’s toolkit for managing economic uncertainty, which is expected to persist for the remainder of 2023, “shouldn’t rely on hunkering down and trying to outlast it”.

Customers want options when shopping, so it’s critical to get this right.

Focus on creating a compelling checkout with this quickfire checklist.

• Consumers want options: whether relating to returns or payments, consumers want options at the point of purchase, so make sure you are providing the market-leading and most popular offerings.
• Are you meeting the fundamentals? Not long ago, smooth experiences online and at the digital checkout were deemed game changers; now they’re table stakes.
• Forget future growth if UX fails today: from Web 3.0 and the Metaverse to next-gen payments, the innovation agenda in retail is vast – but retailers struggling with online UX today will fall further behind tomorrow.
• A new breed of shopper wants more from you: all consumers expect more from retailers and brands than ever before – and they are less forgiving – so tune into what they want at the checkout, such as emerging payment methods, to ensure long-term loyalty.
• Don’t close the book on innovation: if anything, a crisis is a good time to try new things and invest in new technology.