As I have previously pointed out, consumers still do not readily embrace the idea of paying for web services. Hank Williams expresses similar sentiments, as does Howard. However, it’s not simply a lack of business model or value proposition that prevents an explosion of online revenue generation today. IMO, the issue is more straightforward: the process of buying online is insanely difficult and cumbersome. Almost everything that happens online is faster and more efficient than offline, with the exception of paying. We still lack the online equivalent to swiping an ATM card.
I’d argue that one of the primary mistakes with modern e-commerce is that no one takes advantage of what I’ll term “order of web magnitude.â€� That is, the order or hierarchy of services that I use to ultimately access a given web page and make a purchase. Personally, my order is:
Apple (MacBook) > Firefox > Google > Website > Sub-Site or Product.
In other words, 9 out of 10 times I am accessing websites I’d make purchases from using my laptop, accessing the web via Firefox and then using Google to locate a product or service. Under each of these four levels of hierarchy, there is huge opportunity for that company to own my billing and yet typically I am asked to pay at the lowest and therefore most fragmented level (individual websites). For example, what if Firefox managed all my accounts and let me make payments anytime I was logged in and accessing a site via its browser? Or what if Apple who already has my credit card on file via iTunes…let me pay online via that same conduit anytime I accessed a website while on my Macbook?
I have also thought about having a separate “payment presenceâ€� that follows us around — maybe via OpenID integration with PayPal or Tipjoy. Ultimately though it makes so much more sense for my online ATM card to be a service provider I’m already using each time I access the web. It baffles my why we accept as standard the need to access numerous third-party pages, create new accounts, re-entering credit card information, and remembering logins whenever we want to buy something online? Seriously! This is 2008!
There will always be certain products and services we’d bend over backwards to get, no matter how arduous the actual buying process. For example, parents will walk to the ends of the earth for toys during the Holiday season and people will wait in line for hours to be the first to own an iPhone. However, since web services and the psychology of buying them predominantly lack value proposition (the reasons for this would be another post) someone needs to radically simplify the buying process and that person/company is going to make a killing.