Google brings online payments to the UK

Internet search giant, Google is bringing its online payment system, Google Checkout, to the UK.

Google launched Checkout to the US market in June last year, and is now bringing the system to the UK as the first port of call in its Western European rollout.

Google are hoping that Checkout will help bolster its online advertising revenue, which saw it pull in $7.1bn in 2006, by offering the combination of advertising and following up with order processing.

In an attempt to gain a foothold into the market, Google was offering free processing till the end of 2007 for retailers, and sizable discounts to consumers over the US holiday season.

With the launch in the UK, retailers here will be given similar offer, as well as the standard price break of £10 of orders processed for free for each £1 a retailer spends buying advertising through Google.

Whilst the majority of major online resellers use their own processing systems, services like PayPal and Google checkout allow smaller companies to remove the complication of secure online transaction processing, by outsourcing it to a well known and trusted company.

Users benefit by knowing that their card details are being processed in a secure environment and can use a single username and password when buying from multiple sites that are running Google Checkout.

"One of the biggest issues faced by online retailers is checkout abandonment, although almost 40 per cent of all online purchases begin with a search engine request, around two thirds of shopping baskets are abandoned before the sale is completed, said James Scott, Director of marketplaces & ecommerce at ChannelAdvisor UK

"With Google Checkout, retailers can now use Google services to both attract and convert buyers, reducing levels of abandonment, as well as saving significant amounts of money on payment processing costs."

Some commentators have voiced concern about the amount of information Google gathers on its users and that the inclusion of purchasing habits could make the giant even more powerful.