PWA new upcoming feature – Payment Request API

Okay! Before we discuss the payment request API that you can implement on Magento 2 progressive web app development, let’s check out the exciting story

So a hundred people get into your mall, look through their favorite merchandise, add them to the portable basket-trolleys, and as soon as they reach the billing counter; ninety-five of them abandon their respective trolleys and take an exit turn.

The reason may vary between anything like “they ran short of cash,” “their mom’s wanted them home early,” “they changed their minds,” etc.

But eventually, the number is significant, and who would want to keep that number for a record?

Moreover, the amount you spend on meeting your mall’s expenses should come out of your customer’s pockets, and if you don’t have customer footfall, you need to re-look into your strategies or, at the worst— wrap up your store.

The above scenario has been happening for years for e-commerce stores, and no wonder why this can become the next headache for your store.

Of every 100 online customers, 95 customers stop at the payment webpage.

And a lot of reasons contribute to such a terrible number.

Some don’t remember their card’s credentials; some don’t have credit cards right in their hands to fill the necessary data; sometimes, autofill stuff the wrong data in the faulty components; and sometimes, their network doesn’t show promising intent.

Of all the reasons, you are the one who’s losing short of customers, and you would like to get that number down.

And if this happens to you, no matter how hard you try to stick to different alternatives, look across the width and length of the store, reach out to every possible help for reducing it; by the end of the day, you will be entirely consumed without significant improvement in it.

But that’s too pessimistic a way to look at your work as you can’t afford to go without trying.

Before you run around for fixing your problem to some self-acclaimed e-commerce experts, ask yourself these questions.

• Where do you get your traffic more— your website or native app?
• What’s the conversion statistic for both the channels?
• Do I need Progressive Web applications for eliminating the need of native app?

Google stats may not help you, but one of the studies states that despite setting up a native app, most of the traffic comes from mobile websites.

More than 66% of mobile purchases are made on the web and not on the application. It means that users still find it easier to enter the domain in the search bar and look for the store than to download an app for shopping.

With native apps, I personally feel my cell phone memory stuffed to its brink, my battery draining quickly, my phone getting slower, and a lot of other things which you can explore while using it in real-time.

Although the maximum conversion is through mobile websites, a worrying trend is that the maximum bounce rate is also through mobile sites.

The ratio between the users who get into the mobile app and converts to the ratio between the users who get into native app and converts is meager.

It means that Apps may not invite as many users as mobile websites; however, whatever it attracts, it has a better entry to purchase ratio than that of mobiles. And one of the analytics interestingly suggests that mobile websites have 66% fewer conversion than mobile apps.

By all the stats, the argument is relatively clear and in favor of progressive web applications.

Now, checkout forms are one of the main accused of page abandonment, and people find it like a Pan’s Labyrinth— very difficult to get across it to the next page. They have always been tedious, demand a lot of manual interaction, move at a slow pace, and need many taps.

Slow checkouts have always affected your business, and its generational tale says all about it.

Let’s hear it out from three generations of checkout.

1. Generation 1: I am the first generation of checkouts. It was when I was new to everyone, like rocket science. Somehow, I drove traffic by raising a curiosity in the new users— the users for whom even shopping online was an alien concept. They would fill me manually every time I’d come across their screens without any complaint. However, they started despising me after a good number of years because I was TOO demanding as I’d always say, “I am incomplete without you; you are the one who completes me.” Slowly, they gave up on me. I was one of the top reasons for costing my master’s business. Hence, I am speaking to you here at my funeral.
2. Generation 2: I am the second generation of checkouts. My masters adopted me because the first generation was way too cumbersome, complicated, and lengthy. I am a bit more enhanced version of the first generation who demand a piece of lesser information, thereby immediately becoming the hot favorite of the merchants and more importantly users. They say that I am neatly designed and reduce cart abandonment by 35%. It’s roughly as big as recovering 260 billion dollars order. Howbeit, short or long, users still find me tedious. They look at me now and yell, “not again.” Maybe they want to eliminate the manual entry and need their systems to reflect the autofill details.
3. Generation 3: I am the third generation of checkouts. Oh, I take massive pride in my abilities because my vendors and users find me very useful. I cache all the form details in the local browser and reflect the form details which they can fill with just a tap. I am automatic, I am simple, and I mostly take care of my shopper’s mood. I need a little help from the browser for distinguishing attributes, and I am all set to present the show. They call me autofill. But wait, they seem to be unsatisfied every time. What’s wrong with them? They are a bunch of ungratified lads who can’t appreciate any move for years. They have a complain that “I am fast but not as fast as they’d want me to behave,” and “I pull in a lot of time because users still have to fill the form.” I have overheard that they are looking to eliminate forms. Hah! Overconfident humans stitch impossible dreams until they fall flat on their faces. 

Generation 3 is furious with humans because they are finding ways to imagine the world without forms, but do you second with it?

Well, with Payment Request API, I think generation 3 is in a fit state to receive the most unlikely answer.

Payment Request API— The Fourth Generation

Setting up the fourth generational checkout window, Payment Request API or WP3 API abolishes the need of checkout forms and standardizes the payment collection for websites.

If you are disgusted with intricate checkouts, Payment Request API makes payment a cakewalk process for you, eventually bringing down cart abandonment numbers.

The given Request API adds more life to Progressive Web Applications which already possess all the life of the world, i.e., your mobile shopping experience is going to be lightning quick.

The passing of credentials from browser to merchant has been a tough task till now; however, with Payment Request API, a merchant can get necessary credit card details from any browser with ease.

The API also supports payments through applications in whatever payment process they believe, i.e., be it bank transfer, bitcoins, e-money, etc.

It’s like users clicking on the checkout button, and their payment details are ready the very next second. They have to finger scan and boom! The order gets placed.

It’s sweet to think that cart abandonment will drop by significant numbers, and the conversion will reach happy-heights.

Everything will be just a tap away.

Things happening at the back end.

Let’s have a look at what you need at the back end for Payment Request API to work.

1. First step: At first, the progressive web application calls the Payment Request Method, i.e., PaymentRequest(). The Request method has the list of payment methods, that is, via Visa, Mastercard, etc. and purchase details such as price details including principle cost, tax, shipping cost, and unlimited labels depending on your choice. 
2. Second step: This step allows your browser to prompt the payment option in UI. Usually, we all make our credit purchases through the browser. For example, if you have already made payment by typing credit details in A’s form, the browser would store the information and when you checkout from B, the browser will pop up a page with stored credentials. If you haven’t typed any credit details earlier in other forms, you can manually input it or take a picture of your card and let payment page scan it for you (credits to the image to text conversion). Then you can reap the benefits of Payment Request API from thereon. If your credentials don’t match with browser’s detail, you can always edit it by a simple tap. You can change the shipping address, card type, etc. However, most of the time, users shop through standard cards, thereby processing the payment at a rate of knots.
3. Third step: The browser UI interacts with the payment application whichever is integrated for the payment method. It can be something like a local app like Apple or Android pay or any other remote payment gateway. Basically, it interacts to check what the person wants to pay and then generates an authorization token. It then renders the token to the site and then back to the payment gateway to and fro. So payment APIs have different hooks in which you can integrate different payment gateways. These tokens are one-time usable tokens, and you can’t reuse or see through them for breaching the security.

The Bird-eye view over safety

After all this, it’s legitimate to ask if payment is safe using Payment Request API or what are the security challenges which may put hurdles against the very well planned fourth-generation checkouts.

• It’s at least as safe as third-generation checkout forms or as existing merchant’s info, i.e., credit cards.
• It’s twice as good as any method if we extend API with a one-time authorization token.
• It helps us to avoid the handover of credentials to the merchant because payment gateway generates token and merchants don’t get to see anything other than it.
• It encourages you to shop from untrusted websites when you use local payment solutions such as Apple or Android pay.

Your security concerns may also hover over autofill data. Frankly, they are safe too, and that’s why we are discussing them so vocally.

• All the information stored for autofill, along with any other data, are securely saved.
• These data are not visible to any website unless you stride forward to fill the form.
• Servers have the power to execute the transaction without saving any permanent card/account information. 
• Streamlined and hassle-free guest checkout process for the users.

Here are some of the highlights of the Payment Request API

• It enables the browser to behave as an intermediary platform for users, merchants, and payment methods.
• To work on cross-browsers, devices, and platforms.
• To support the myriad of secure payment environments and methods.
• To standardize and smoothen the payment communication flow.

The use of Payment Request API can test the speed of Progressive Web Applications to their extremities.

The combination of low page load time and easy penetration through payment confirm PWA as darling to many merchants and users.

The Final Call

When you own e-commerce, irrespective of sales channel (PWA, Apps, Websites, etc.), your goal should be outrightly clear— minimizing the purchase time for customers.

Laminating your website into Progressive Web App look, including super-essential management systems like Payment Request API and Credential Management API, and staying at the fulcrum of every trend push you closer to the goal, i.e., shrinking down the total amount of time wasted on surfing and finally abandoning.

An average user wastes 95% of his time in selecting the products only to abandon it later.

So, are you doing enough for converting them?

If you don’t see a way out of this vicious loop of selection and abandonment as a merchant, slip out our business cards out from your pocket and connect with us. We will take care of your technical requirements. You just have to place your faith.