E-WALLETS STILL FAILING TO FIND A
PLACE IN POCKETS OF AMERICAN
SHOPPERS
By Nancy Imperiale Wellons
Orlando Sentinel
November 20, 2000
Pundits called 1999 "the year of the e-wallet," those
devices that store passwords, addresses and other
personal information and then pass them on to e-tailers
when you make a purchase.
Electronic wallets were heralded as an antidote to the
headaches of online shopping and its cumbersome
checkout process, which often has consumers fleeing
before finalizing a purchase.
But the promise of e-wallets was overshadowed last
holiday shopping season by the headlines decrying
botched online customer service and missed shipments.
So call 2000 the year after the year of the e-wallet.
Although e-wallets are still around, they're no longer
being heralded as the ultimate e-commerce salvation.
They're just another tool in the evolving world of online
shopping.
"There's more emphasis this year on customer service,
tracking of packages and handling of returns," said Scott
Brinker, chief technology officer of I-on Interactive Inc.,
a Web strategy and development firm based in Boca Raton,
Fla. "Being a technologist myself, I appreciate the concept
of inventing solutions to problems that don't necessarily
exist, and I think in some ways the e-wallet technology is
like that. They came up with a Net technology, but did it
really solve a problem that had consumers going `Oh
yeah, I want that!'?"
"People's confidence waned a little last year in safety and
privacy issues. Those are always at the forefront of
online shoppers' concerns, and they haven't gone away,"
said Jill Freeze, author of "Savvy Online Shopping."
Freeze thinks e-wallets are a "neat technology" that will
probably grow in popularity this year. Though the cover
of her book refers to her as an "Internet zealot and
hardcore e-shopper," Freeze said she does not use an
e-wallet.
"It just kind of cramps my style. I'm a little more
free-spirited about where I shop," she said.
Part of the limitation with e-wallets is that some--such as
Microsoft's Passport (www.passport.com)--are
supported by certain merchants who must agree to
accommodate the software that supports the wallet's
encryption system. Others, such as the e-wallets offered
by Visa (visa.com/pd/ewallet) and MasterCard
(mastercard.com/shoponline/e-wallets/index.html),
attempt to work with all retailers but "with varying
degrees of success," according to a consumer test
published in the March issue of PC World magazine.
But don't expect e-wallets to disappear.
"MasterCard has made a significant commitment to
electronic wallets," said Carl Stefanelli, vice president of
electronic commerce and emerging technologies for
MasterCard International. "We think it's an excellent
application to help customers move smoothly through
the shopping experience." Although the credit card
company generally quotes studies that say a third of
online shoppers abandon their purchase before finalizing
it, "the number's actually much higher," Stefanelli said.
According to Stefanelli, the reasons consumers give for
abandoning e-wallets are:
- It took too long to complete the purchase.
- The merchant asked for too much personal information.
- There were too many fields to fill out.
"The e-wallet is designed to make the shopping experience
smooth," Stefanelli said. "You build a profile of yourself,
with name, address, shipping address, so that when you
get to the merchant's form, you don't have to retype all
that information."
So why has last year's heavy promotion of e-wallets
evaporated?
"There's sort of a chicken-and-egg process," Brinker said.
"When I talk to people who use the Web and ask why they
don't use e-wallets, I get two answers. One, I get told: `It
just seems like too much of a hassle to find an e-wallet
and get it all set up.' Which means to me that the e-wallet
people haven't done a very good job of making a simple
offering.
"The second excuse is, `I shop at a lot of different places;
why should I use an e-wallet if half the places where I
shop aren't going to support it?"'
Some companies have stepped in to offer online devices
that are similar to e-wallets but can accommodate any
online retailer. The obongo bar from Obongo Inc.
(www.obongo.com) is a toolbar that rests at the bottom
of your computer screen and remembers passwords,
personal profiles and payment information. Gator.com
boasts 6 million users of its Gator "smart online
companion," which pops up when you need it. Along
with an online toolbar that remembers information,
Jotter from Jotter Technologies Inc. (jotter.com) will
play music files and remind you of important dates.
Then there are smart cards, such as American Express'
heavily hyped Blue card (americanexpress.com/blue),
which have embedded computer chips. To make online
purchases, smart cards are swiped through an electronic
device plugged into a home computer, much like a credit
or debit card is swiped at a department store.
In addition to offering an e-wallet, MerchantOnline
(merchantonline.com) sells a home swipe terminal called
PC Pay, which encrypts your credit card information
before it reaches your computer, then sends it on its way
during online transactions. The company, which has
patents in more than 125 countries, is in discussions to
package the device with new computers. It predicts the
home swipe device will one day be as ubiquitous in the
home office as a mouse.
"We call it the at-home ATM machine," said Tarek
Kirschen, chief executive of the Boca Raton-based
company. "What we have done is take the real-world
merchant terminal and moved that terminal into every
household."
But e-commerce is still in its infancy. Just which devices
will hit home, and which will strike out, remains hard to
predict.
"If you look at the history of financial services in the 21st
Century, not one single financial services product has
been adopted immediately," said Thomas Vartanian, a
leading e-commerce authority, managing partner of a
Washington, D.C., law firm and co-author of "21st
Century Money, Banking & Commerce."
"A good example is the ATM. That really took 15 years to
gain any acceptance in the marketplace," he said.
chicago.tribune.com
steve |
