Single page checkout

[redrum]

I found it a bit odd that a such a new and fresh shopping system like prestashop has such an old checkout process. It has the same, if not more, steps as OSCommerce.

If anyone can tell me why you have choose to go this way, and if you plan to modify your system it would be nice.

Otherwise, it looks like you have something good going on.

Cheers,
Fredrik

[TropischBruin]

What you are looking for is PWA (Purchase Without Account).
This is not possible at the moment but will be in one of the next releases (I think).

Personaly I can not understand why you would need such a PWA setup as the customer has to fill in all of his details anyway so the only thing is that there is no record in you database of this customer except his order....

In many cases there are several ways of paying + several ways of carier options so a one page checkout could give and ask to much to choose from for you customer.

My own osCommerce shop has no PWA and the default checkout behaivure and never was I asked why it was this way nor ahs it stopped any of my customers to buy.
If you prices are sharp and you collection is good they will buy from you.

[redrum]

From 1234806672:

What you are looking for is PWA (Purchase Without Account).
This is not possible at the moment but will be in one of the next releases (I think).

Personaly I can not understand why you would need such a PWA setup as the customer has to fill in all of his details anyway so the only thing is that there is no record in you database of this customer except his order....

In many cases there are several ways of paying + several ways of carier options so a one page checkout could give and ask to much to choose from for you customer.

My own osCommerce shop has no PWA and the default checkout behaivure and never was I asked why it was this way nor ahs it stopped any of my customers to buy.
If you prices are sharp and you collection is good they will buy from you.

I Prefer Fast & Easy Checkout (FES) before PWA for osCommerce. I only use the first half for FES, so the customer can choose if he want to register an account or not (I havent merged the shipping and payment pages).

Sure you have a point in that you cant understand why the customers shouldn't create an account. But if you cant understand why I guess youre a programmer, and not looking for a user friendly shop where the shopper wants to be anonymous and is afraid for the big bad internet.
But note that I dont talk about skipping the registration, rather giving the option to skip it, but creating a single page checkout
All the customers info needs to be stored, but you should give the customer a chance to choose if he wants to create an account or not. If he choose not to, he can get another chance in the order confirmation mail.

Ofcourse your original osc checkout hasn't stopped customers to checkout. If they are your customers its obvios they have gone thru all the checkout steps.
I dont want to be rude here, but you are so wrong if you think that you dont lose any customers with a multi step checkout. An easy checkout is one of the most important things in a web shop. And a single page checkout is the key to it.
If you design it well you can display it nice even if you have several payment and shipping options.

[TropischBruin]

From 1234808720:

I Prefer Fast & Easy Checkout (FES) before PWA for osCommerce. I only use the first half for FES, so the customer can choose if he want to register an account or not (I havent merged the shipping and payment pages).

Sure you have a point in that you cant understand why the customers shouldn't create an account. But if you cant understand why I guess youre a programmer, and not looking for a user friendly shop where the shopper wants to be anonymous and is afraid for the big bad internet.
But note that I dont talk about skipping the registration, rather giving the option to skip it, but creating a single page checkout
All the customers info needs to be stored, but you should give the customer a chance to choose if he wants to create an account or not. If he choose not to, he can get another chance in the order confirmation mail.

Ofcourse your original osc checkout hasn't stopped customers to checkout. If they are your customers its obvios they have gone thru all the checkout steps.
I dont want to be rude here, but you are so wrong if you think that you dont lose any customers with a multi step checkout. An easy checkout is one of the most important things in a web shop. And a single page checkout is the key to it.
If you design it well you can display it nice even if you have several payment and shipping options.

I'm in no-way a programmer but a shop owner.

In my first osC shop I had the PWA build in, never in the 2 years I had that shop it was used.
Maybe here in The Netherlands we are not afraid to create an account, but on the other hand, I had 2 certifications already at that time proofing that my shop was/is trustfull....

In my current shop I did not to bother to add the PWA just because it was never used.

[redrum]

Its a bit strange that no one ever used your PWA.

But the registration is not the big issue here, nor security. Its all the steps, and PWA dont remove a single step. The only thing it does for the customer is removing the password fields.

The customer is lazy, and if you have 3-5 steps in checkout it looks more difficult and harder then if its all on one page, even thou it might not be. Its all about how the customer experience it.

[arowana]

I found the checkout process slow and tedious as well, having to click thru so many pages to check out.

why can't Prestashop put all the infomation needed to fill in by the customer in one page by using, rather than having to click so many pages - a plain waste of time from customer side.

anybody up for creating the one-page module ?

[swemannen]

I agree with redrum. All those steps are a PITA and a little too 90s for my taste...

[-=seth=-]

there's a lot of cultural differences in the way customers shop, for instance British customers (and American) want everything in a hurry, British customers also have an inversion to anything that looks bureaucratic
you need to put the absolute minimum of obstacles in their way, ideally let them browse, fill in their details in one form, have those details transferred across to the payment process and let them be gone, as few forms and proceedures as possible

i hate opening accounts when i'm shopping online it seems like an added hassle, but i really hate accounts when i'm return to a site i've shopped on before, i'ld almost certainly going to forget what my password was, that means going through the password reminder, trying to figure out which email address i used etc etc. To me shops like Amazon are a pain in the ar$e

i'm looking forward to the improved presta when it is released, in the mean time i'm not going to install presta, i only popped back to see if anyone had written a check out module, its a shame it looks like a good shop, a very good shop but the check-out lets it down

[TropischBruin]

From 1235410806:

*knip*

And what, may I ask, cartsoftware are you using at the moment?

[redrum]

From 1235410806:

I agree with you. But I dont think its unique for the British and American customers. Ofcourse I can only speak on the behalf of the Nordic market. But I'm pretty sure its the same for test of the world.

When you start to look at the pioneers and major shopping cart developers in my region they have a single page checkout, or atleast offer it. You can also read in the internet magazines that a smooth checkout is important, and how it has increase the sales for those shops that have changed their checkout process to a single page checkout.

At the end of the day, the intention of a shopping cart system is to sell products. So why not help customer to buy products in a smooth way.

[4eyes]

In every conversion test we have carried out, the fewer steps in the checkout process the higher the conversion rate.

Unless you need to enforce each step for some reason - or are happy to lose some conversions in exchange for a customer 'signing up' for an account - then you should shorten the number of steps.


Prestashop needs a shorter checkout option - it REALLY needs one.

Without it, it will lose out to other stores.

[TropischBruin]

From 1238685053:

In every conversion test we have carried out, the fewer steps in the checkout process the higher the conversion rate.

Unless you need to enforce each step for some reason - or are happy to lose some conversions in exchange for a customer 'signing up' for an account - then you should shorten the number of steps.


Prestashop needs a shorter checkout option - it REALLY needs one.

Without it, it will lose out to other stores.

I think that PS should first make sure thet it does what is needed, then I'm sure someone will come up with a short version of the checkout process.
a.t.m. re-coding is a waist of time as PS is going to change over the next releases..., whenever that will be.

[4eyes]

Quote

I think that PS should first make sure thet it does what is needed

..but this IS needed - it impacts directly on a stores profit. If you shorten the checkout process you make more money from the store. If your competitors have it, and your store doesn't, then they are more profitable - and that is opposite of what we want.

Without it, some people, myself included, will migrate to other e-commerce systems that provide a better profit when used - which would be a terrible shame as everything else about Prestashop is so good.

[TropischBruin]

From 1238737148:

Quote

I think that PS should first make sure thet it does what is needed

..but this IS needed - it impacts directly on a stores profit. If you shorten the checkout process you make more money from the store. If your competitors have it, and your store doesn't, then they are more profitable - and that is opposite of what we want.

Without it, some people, myself included, will migrate to other e-commerce systems that provide a better profit when used - which would be a terrible shame as everything else about Prestashop is so good.

I rather have an Order Editor then a Singe Page Checkout.

[4eyes]

LOL - have you some inside knowledge that is has to be an 'either'/'or' ???

I'd rather have more profit - I am far happier when I am competing against people who can edit their orders easily but convert less well than me ;)

Of course, I'd like to be able to edit orders easily too - but I can work around this if need be.

IMO, Plug the leak first then start baling out - you can't edit orders you don't get.


But you are welcome to your opinion - it simply doesn't affect mine, nor vice versa I suspect.

I posted in this thread as support to the other people who had identified this as a priority for them - also to try to help you understand the issue more clearly (as you stated that you could not understand why one would need this). I have seen a shorter checkout improve conversions by 15% on some sites - that is clearly of significance to profitability - extra orders with no extra cost of order acquisition.

It seems I have succeeded in one of my aims, but not the other.

My company specialises in improving conversion rate - and anyone who is concerned with improving conversion rates will be concerned over this issue - even to the extent that software no longer becomes the tool of choice. Clearly there are those where improving conversion rates is not their top priority - I have no problem with this, in fact I actively encourage it in my competitors ;)

[Raver]

Agreed to the opinion that single page checkouts convert better.

I for one have abandoned purchases when the checout process is a pain and requests too much info.

Love to get the process of the checkout out of the way ASAP when I shop online.

I look forward to Prestashop developers coming out with a module so we have an option to shorten the process of checkout or a modified single page checkout.

Hope they have rolled up their sleeves and started working on it! It would certainly be highly appreciated!

[TropischBruin]

From 1238854640:

Agreed to the opinion that single page checkouts convert better.

I for one have abandoned purchases when the checout process is a pain and requests too much info.

The will ask the same amount of info, it is just fitted in one page.

Quote

Love to get the process of the checkout out of the way ASAP when I shop online.

I look forward to Prestashop developers coming out with a module so we have an option to shorten the process of checkout or a modified single page checkout.

Hope they have rolled up their sleeves and started working on it! It would certainly be highly appreciated!

Don't hold your breaht......

[4eyes]

Quote

The will ask the same amount of info, it is just fitted in one page.

You lose people everytime you make them view another page of questions - getting them all on one page converts better.

[redrum]

From 1238745235:

I rather have an Order Editor then a Singe Page Checkout.

Ok, and my passion is skydiving. It doesn't have much to do with a single page checkout, but neither has your post.

I found it abit funny that it seems like you are against a single page checkout. I dont understand why, since you you have a webshop. Even thou it might be a hobby of yours, you must be happy if you receive more orders.

Its better to start implant a single page checkout in PS now, then wait for really no reason. Then the team and contributors can adapt their code and modules to work with it.
If you want to do a single page checkout for OSCommerce its a bit tricky to get it work flawless whit all the payment modules out there.

[Hoodgrown]

Well, most who study ecommerce know that people prefer a one page checkout....
that sentiment is echoed in this site review...
http://www.practical...on-Good-Service


along with more than a few good articles on why you should use one page checkout. Maybe it's a cultural thing. More important in the US than in the rest of the world. I mean OsC wasn't built with it.. someone created a mod for it.