Apple ushers in a new era for Web-Shops

Buried in the news from Apple’s Developer Conference yesterday was the advent of something really big for e-retailers. Iphone and Mac users will be able to pay online in Safari using a “Pay with Apple Pay” button, and authenticate their purchase using Touch ID on their phone or watch.

As anyone trying to make a purchase on a mobile device will know, entering payment details is cumbersome, so completing a transaction with a couple of taps will be a real boon for mobile shopping on the web.

Ultra convenient mobile shopping

We are still waiting for more detailed news of how Apple Pay will be integrated into checkout flows. Billing and shipping addresses come straight to mind – will users need to still enter these? Or will these details be given to the retailer by Apple Pay? In the case of the latter, this would be ultra convenient with mobile shopping having the same smoothness as traditional retail.

Stripe are among the payment gateway’s first to launch this technology in the Autumn. It will be interesting to see if popular open source e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento and Prestashop will have ready-made plugins available?

Will Apple steal share from PayPal?

We could see an explosion of web shops with this functionality over the coming year – with Apple stealing market share from PayPal. If Android Pay and Samsung Pay follow suit similarly, then PayPal could be in real trouble as consumers adopt more convenient and secure means of transacting on the web.

Sheer will be following these developments carefully and offering Apple Pay integration for web shops as soon as possible. In the meantime, we still offer a wide range of alternatives including PayPal, Worldpay, Stripe and Realex, as well as other International gateways.

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