This article was published on August 5, 2011

App55 wants to bring the ease of Amazon and Apple payments to every online retailer


App55 wants to bring the ease of Amazon and Apple payments to every online retailer

One of the reasons that Amazon and Apple are so successful as online retailers is that it’s so easy to buy from them. Once you’re signed up, it’s as simple as a click (or at most, entering your password) to buy anything. Other businesses would no doubt love to be able to make life that simple their customers, and UK startup App55 wants to help them do just that.

The company offers a simple piece of code that retailers can place on their sites, enabling customers, once signed up, to simply enter their password every time they want to buy anything. There’s no need to enter card details, a delivery address or anything else that could slow down the purchase process.

Manchester-based App55’s CEO and founder, Richard Beaton, says that he isn’t trying to ‘disrupt’ the market – quite the opposite. He wants to offer a service that can be implemented as easily as possible by retailers, with as little friction as possible for end users at the online checkout.

Despite the self-funded startup comparing its product to Amazon and Apple in terms of its simplicity, App55’s biggest competitor is probably Google Checkout, which (if you’re signed in to your Google account) is just as easy a process. However, whereas with Google’s solution payments are made through the search giant’s servers, with App55, retailers can integrate it with their existing systems. All card and customer details are always stored with the retailer – App55’s only role is as a ‘bridge’ to authenticating the user and authorising the payment as simply as possible and users don’t have to worry about a having their purchase information going through a third party.

Things are getting off to a good start for the company. This week it has launched a partnership with WorldPay which will see the world’s fourth largest payment processing company recommend App55 to any customers looking for a simple payment-by-password solution, and Beaton says that there’s plenty of pent-up demand.

App55 offers negotiable pricing to its customers, and retailers interested in the service can find out more at App55.com.

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