IBM Brings Apple Pay to Commerce Clients, Offering New Customer Engagement Tool

The convenience of Apple Pay is coming to one of the world’s largest providers of ecommerce solutions. IBM recently announced that the payment option would now be offered to all clients through the Safari browser on iPhone, iPad, and Mac platforms.
 
The announcement cites research out of Business Insider that reinforces the need for a seamless online checkout process. According to the report, four of the leading five reasons that customers abandon the online purchasing process occur during payment and information entry. These issues are largely solved through the implementation of Apple Pay, which continues to gain momentum as an alternative means of payment in lieu of a traditional physical card.
 
“Customer loyalty is everything and businesses must bring relevance, ease and privacy to every step in a transaction if they want to maintain it,” said Harriet Green, General Manager, Watson IoT, Commerce and Education, IBM. “IBM Commerce solutions can help businesses deliver flawless customer experiences. By offering Apple Pay on the web, we are making it even easier for consumers to complete purchases without having to waste time looking for credit cards or putting their most private information at risk.”
 
As with all mobile payment solutions, security is a top factor in reluctance from new users. Card numbers are never stored on the actual devices being used, ensuring that payment information is never at risk, even when a device is lost or stolen.
 
The ability for smaller ecommerce sites to implement Apple Pay is a huge step forward for the platform. By making the solution accessible to a new base of marketers, the medium is sure to be accepted as a more mainstream and routine part of the payment process, as opposed to the “niche” space it often occupies in the minds of today’s shoppers. A more ubiquitous Apple Pay is beneficial both for the tech giant—who obviously receives more exposure for the payment solution—and for customers, who take another step toward a potentially wallet-less future.
 
Payment information has often been a point of friction for online shoppers; billing address, shipping address, and credit card details are all opportunities for a customer to walk away from a purchase. With the rapidly expanding Apple Pay now moving into a wide array of new markets, these pain points will soon be reduced to little more than a fingerprint.

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