Google Checkout Makes Holiday Shopping Faster and Easier
WebKnowHow Tuesday, November 21, 2006; 04:56 AM
The Monday after Thanksgiving – Cyber Monday – is expected to draw
another record crowd of online shoppers this year, as people log on
after spending the holiday weekend fighting the crowds and browsing
through stores.
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According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and
commissioned by Google Checkout, 40% of employed U.S. adults say
they'll be doing at least some of their online holiday shopping from
work this year, with 1 in 4 of those shoppers logging on to track down
that perfect gift on Monday, November 27 (57% plan to shop during
coffee and lunch breaks, while 34% will wait until the end of the
workday).
Trying to squeeze online holiday shopping into already busy schedules,
shoppers will be looking for even more speed and convenience this year.
And while there are many online shopping options to make finding the
right gift relatively easy, online shoppers still have to deal with
hassles, such as entering billing, shipping, and contact information
multiple times as they move from site to site. Google Checkout
eliminates an average of 15 steps from the online checkout process, in
many cases making checking out as simple as entering a single login.
This can save a lot of time for online shoppers, who will visit an
average of 5.5 websites for holiday gifts this season, according to the
survey.
For the holidays, Google Checkout will also be offering users a variety
of promotions for their holiday shopping. Through Tuesday, December 26,
users will receive $10 off purchases of $30 or more, or $20 off
purchases of $50 or more, depending on the merchant. And best of all,
these promotions are reusable, no special registration is necessary,
and there are none of the delays that come with rebates -- users will
automatically see the credits applied as they make their purchases. For
example, if users visit an average of five participating websites, they
can redeem the promotion on each of those sites and save at least $50
on their holiday shopping.
Since the launch in June, thousands of merchants have added Google
Checkout to their sites. So shoppers trying to cross things off their
lists will be able to do so quickly and easily on a wide range of
sites, including Buy.com, Starbucks Store, The Sports Authority, Ace
Hardware, Timberland and many more.
"We understand that more and more holiday shoppers are looking to beat
the crowds by heading online to cross items off their list," said Troy
Brown, senior director of e-commerce at Timberland.com. "That's why
we've partnered with Google Checkout to offer our customers another
fast, easy, and secure checkout process to help them take advantage of
our online holiday offers."
Shoppers will be able to find participating merchants and special promotions on a new Google Checkout holiday site (checkout.google.com/holiday)
that
will be launching on Cyber Monday. The site will provide information on
the promotion and offer gift ideas in the most sought-after categories
this year – which,
according to the survey, include clothing, gift certificates, toys,
electronics, DVDs, and music.
If you'd like to learn more about the survey results, the Google
Checkout holiday site and promotions, or the ways that Checkout makes
online shopping faster and more convenient, you can visit checkout.google.com/holiday on Cyber Monday, November 27.
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