Anyone that has an Amazon account will likely be familiar with 1-Click, a fast track through the checkout process to payment with just one click of a confirmation button. The technique, used most often by online retailers, allows customers to make purchases with the payment information needed to complete the purchase without having to re-enter any personal details.
When it was patented by Amazon in 1999 it was a ground-breaking idea. Completely unheard of previously, it became a pivotal moment in the creation of a hassle-free, enjoyable customer experience. To the excitement of the wider ecommerce industry, that patent expired in September 2017, from which point, any, and all companies could make use of the technology.
Its use has proven particularly important with the rise of digital and mCommerce. With small screens making it fiddly to enter contact and payment details, and public WiFi connections often open, it is both convenient and more secure for consumers to use. From the retailer’s point-of-view, it helps alleviate shopping-cart abandonment – something that proves a major challenge for online stores and leads to significant financial losses each year. Customer patience has waned as technology has improved, and few are willing to sit and work through a long check-out and payment process time after time.
As the hospitality industry catches up with retail technology, restaurants and other food operators are taking their cousin industry’s lead by investing, first in digital ordering, and now pay-at-table services. Their digital adoption is being accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that has created a greater sense of urgency amongst businesses; we would caution operators not to rush into an investment that quickly ties them into a long-term contract. Rather, they must first think through the customer experience they want to give their guests and choose the technology that will satisfy, not frustrate. Each provider and platform available will differ, offering a range of guest experiences and back-of-house data analytics plus business management tools.
As operators invest in and enhance their digital offering, we would expect 1-Click to be on the technology wish list of every hospitality operator. As in the retail sector, customers can become easily frustrated by lengthy sign-ins and having to re-enter personal/payment information. Drop-offs and unfinished transactions become more common, the longer the process of ordering and payment becomes.
The benefits of 1-Click for hospitality are felt even more keenly as the industry strives to push up revenues post-lockdown. Faster payments mean faster table turnover and therefore, greater revenue opportunities.
One of the most successful ways to use 1-Click with an ordering or payment platform is by integrating a mobile payment and digital wallet solution powered by Google Pay and/or Apple Pay. With more than 500 million combined users worldwide, chances are a good portion of every operator’s customer base will use one of the services. Further, the security associated with the two is regularly touted as superior to other payment forms. Although card details are needed to set up Apple Pay or Google Pay the first time, they’re then encrypted and are not shared with the companies themselves, or the hospitality business being paid. That means fraud potential is minimised and operators can easily comply with PCI DSS.
Of course, Apple Pay and Google Pay not the only ways of managing 1-Click. Companies like Stripe and Adyen, both of which QikServe works with, are also providing APIs, and code that allows for the integration of a smooth payment flow into services.
Whether a business chooses to offer a mobile Order Ahead, Order to Table or a Pay at Table solution (or a combination), 1-Click ordering is guaranteed to enhance the customer journey. By streamlining payments and reassuring customers of data security, businesses can optimize the experience and show customers why they should use the technology now, and in the future.
