Paze Pulse(SM) Report Offers Deep Dive into Online Shopping Patterns

Inaugural survey reveals 71% of online shoppers abandon carts, digital wallets key to simplifying checkout experience

NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from the Paze Pulse^SM Report, by Early Warning Services, LLC, revealed that over the past year, 71% of online shoppers have abandoned their online shopping carts. While an overly complicated checkout process and security concerns were among the top reasons for cart abandonment cited in the inaugural "Paze Pulse^SM Report: Consumer Online Shopping Preferences," 72% of consumers surveyed report they highly value digital payment tools like digital wallets, to make online checkout easy.

"The road to better online checkouts is improved with features that expedite and simplify the process," said James Anderson, managing director of Paze. "In today's challenging e-commerce landscape, the findings from our 'Paze Pulse^SM Report: Consumer Online Shopping Preferences' research emphasize the need for secure and convenient ways to make purchases online. This research indicates strong consumer interest in using an online checkout solution, offered by banks and credit unions, and validates our direction with Paze as we prepare for its general availability this year."

The research revealed four key trends regarding consumer preferences and use of online digital payments.

Consumers have an appetite for a financial institution-backed digital wallet:

• There is a notable receptivity to bank-offered digital wallets, particularly among frequent digital wallet users. In fact, almost half of shoppers (44%) would use a digital wallet provided by their bank over guest checkout if given the option.
• Further, respondents consider their banks to be more secure than third-party providers, as 82% of consumers report trusting their bank's safety and security more than third-party payment options.
• Fifty-eight percent of digital wallet users said they would switch to a bank- or credit union-offered digital payment tool if their financial institution kept their card information updated.

Digital wallet setup presents a hurdle for consumer use:

• The findings suggest an opportunity exists for preloaded digital wallets, as nearly half (41%) of shoppers report they would use a digital payment tool if it was set up already, but they revert to guest checkout because it seems easier.
• A similar percentage of "frequent" digital wallet users (43%) and non-digital or infrequent digital wallet users (39%) report the same.

Security and convenience are driving factors for payment choice:

• Consumers prioritize security and convenience when making online purchases, influencing their choice of payment method. Sixty-seven percent of consumers list a secure checkout process as one of the top three most important factors they look for when shopping online.
• While some favor the ease of digital wallets, others opt for guest checkout due to concerns about security or the perceived complexity of setup. Among users of digital wallets, 85% assume their digital wallets are safe, a slightly higher percentage than the number of consumers that perceive manually entering payment information (guest checkout) is safe (79%) and those that perceive using an app from a retailer or business is safe (75%).

Shoppers use a variety of digital payment methods:

• Online shoppers use a variety of digital payment tools for their online purchases, with 91% of consumers reporting frequent use of digital payments for checkout, like keeping their card information stored with a merchant, within a web browser or using a digital wallet.
• Sixty-four percent of consumers value shopping online with merchants that offer multiple ways to pay.
• However, a significant number of shoppers still opt to manually input their payment information at checkout, with 75% of respondents frequently manually entering card information at online checkout, which can be a time-consuming and error-prone process.

To download the findings from the "Paze Pulse^SM Report: Consumer Online Shopping Preferences," visit www.paze.com/pazepulsereport. 

About the "Paze Pulse^SM Report: Consumer Online Shopping Preferences" Research
For the inaugural survey, Early Warning Services, LLC, the operator of Paze^SM, worked with Murphy Research to survey a diverse group of 1,000 online shoppers in the U.S., capturing their opinions and behaviors in Q4 2023. The online survey targeted respondents aged 18 and above who make at least two online purchases per month. To ensure a comprehensive understanding, participants who exclusively shop at major online marketplaces like Amazon have been excluded.

About Paze^SM
Paze is a reimagined online checkout solution that participating banks and credit unions offer to consumers and merchants, combining all eligible debit and credit cards into a single wallet and eliminating manual card entry. Solving long-standing challenges in e-commerce, Paze provides an easy experience consumers and merchants can trust. At general availability, more than 150 million debit and credit cards will be available to consumers for making online purchases. To learn more about Paze, visit www.paze.com. Paze is operated by Early Warning Services, LLC, an innovator in payment and risk management solutions.

Paze and the Paze marks are property of Early Warning Services, LLC.

SOURCE Early Warning Services, LLC