Stripe Unveils Relay for One-Click Purchases within Twitter, Mobile Apps (Sept. 15, 2015)
San Francisco-based Stripe is hoping to accelerate the spread of buy buttons, this week unveiling Relay, a service enabling consumers to make a purchase from within a mobile app or a social media site like Twitter, without bouncing to a merchant’s e-commerce site. Merchants that integrate with Relay use it to add a link within a mobile app or social media feed that consumers may click on to make an instant purchase. Relay gathers a customer’s purchase and shipping details, and with its “remember me” feature consumers don’t need to re-enter that information the next time they want to buy an item seen elsewhere.
Merchants connect to Relay through an API, and use a dashboard to set shipping and tax policies, manage orders and indicate where their e-commerce links will appear. Merchants also may link their existing e-commerce systems to Relay through third-party e-commerce integrators including SAP Hybris—which Levi’s uses—Stripe said. The Relay purchase button doesn’t mention Stripe, whose technology already powers a Facebook buy button. In addition to providing links to third-party channels like Twitter, its first social media partner, Relay offers one-click checkout for mobile e-commerce app developers. Twitter, Wish, ShopStyle and Spring are among the first e-commerce operators integrating with Relay, according to the announcement. Eyeglasses merchant Warby Parker already is offering products through Twitter using Relay.
Buy buttons will be hot over the next year, predicts Richard Crone, a principal with Crone Consulting LLC. The challenge for companies providing them will be gaining scale, he notes.
Related stories:
- Visa Partners with Stripe to Expand E-Commerce Reach
- Pinterest Boosts Interest in E-Commerce with New Buy Button
- Social Media, Shopping Convergence Continues with Twitter, Facebook Moves
