PayPal Launches New Log In Platform For mCommerce Ease

By Ben Carsley, Managing Editor (@BC_PYMNTS)

PayPal is working to make abandoned online shopping carts a thing of the past.

Shopping cart abandonment is a phenomenon we’re all familiar with, and the need to enter in a ton of information into a checkout page is among the leading causes for such transactional desertion. This is especially true for mobile shopping, as no one wants to zoom in on checkout pages or type information on small keys.

That mobile aspect could be the real target behind PayPal’s iteration of its online identity platform, Log In With PayPal, which the company revealed yesterday on its blog and at 2013 Future Insights in Las Vegas.

The basic concept here is simple. PayPal users have their user identification, shipping information and payments details associated with their accounts. Retailers integrate with Log In With PayPal and offer it as an option on its checkout page. When consumers opt to pay with Log In With, they just have to enter their PayPal log-in info (or PIN number on a mobile, but more on that in a minute) and click “confirm” or “accept” a few times, and voila. Their purchase is secured without the need to fill out additional forms or remember separate log in information for each online retailer.

It’s a useful tool to be sure, but not entirely unique. It’s pretty similar to what PayPal Access – Log In With’s predecessor, launched in 2011 – already did, albeit with a few other features thrown in.

But what’s really potentially exciting for PayPal here is that Log In With also works with mobile. In it’s blog post, PayPal cites statistics claiming that around 25 percent of consumers abandon shopping carts when asked to create accounts, and nearly 50 percent abandon carts when asked to remember password.

In fact, in my recent review of Tinyview, the biggest reason I liked the mCommerce app was its ability to cut down on the hassle involved with logging in and entering information on eCommerce sites via mobile. Combine what seems to be an even more streamlined approach to identity with PayPal’s brand name and reach, and this is an intriguing move indeed. Plus, users can also simply enter their mobile number and PIN when shopping through a mobile device to log in to Log In With, should that be the method they prefer.

PayPal also seems intent on making this a pretty easy platform for retailers to integrate with, as it relies on open web platforms like REST, OAuth and JSON.

To see PayPal’s demo of Log In With, check out the video they released with their blog post below.