Every creature has its phobias. To many cats, water is anathema. Some dogs abhor the sound of the vacuum cleaner. And then there are consumers who fear using a credit card to shop online.
Offering alternative payment methods has helped Petco herd those animal lovers into the shopping cart. John Lazarchic, vice president for e-commerce at Petco Animal Supplies Inc., told attendees at the ERI eXchange show in Boston last month that the retailer now utilizes Bill Me Later, PayPal, TeleCheck, and Google Checkout.
These alternatives to credit cards now account for 10% of all the company's direct sales, rising as high as 40% during holiday promotions, he noted. Offering other payment methods is also helping drive new customer acquisitions — Bill Me Later users have a 10 times higher average conversion rate, he said, adding that alternative payment orders typically average 20% higher than credit cards.
These services also do their part to encourage customer use — Bill Me Later, for example, ran a promotion offering a $1 donation to the charitable Petco Foundation with every purchase, while others like PayPal have offered discounts around holiday shopping seasons.
If you're going to offer shoppers payment choices, Lazarchic said, let them know of the options early in the process. If you want until they're checking out, it may be too late to sell them on the concept…and on the idea of buying from your site.
