Yesterday, we posted a lengthy discussion of Google's new universal checkout system, Google Checkout. We are extremely bullish on its future and will follow the developments closely. Just like Google's AdWords first gained traction with small businesses (including Online Banking Report, an AdWords user since early 2002), we expect small merchants to embrace Checkout quickly to realize two huge benefits:

• Lower card processing fees: A certain amount of card processing can be virtually FREE, as long as the merchant can use the AdWords credits; even after that, Google's fees are one-third lower than PayPal, which is considered a relatively cost-effective program for small merchants
• Less shopping cart abandonment: Consumers abandon their online carts for a variety of reasons, but one of the leading causes at smaller merchants is concern about entering personal info and credit card numbers

It will take much longer for larger merchants to come on board since they must cede an important part of the customer relationship to Google, such as the customer's email address.

Financial institution opportunities
All this begs the question: What does this have to do with my financial institution? I'm glad you asked. Here are five ways a bank could leverage Google Checkout (in order from easiest to most difficult):

1. Educate customers on Google Checkout with encouragement to enter your credit and/or debit numbers into the wallet: While Google allows multiple cards, most users won't realize that initially since it asks for only one during the sign-up process, so the first one entered has a huge advantage. This would make a great subject for your periodic email newsletter, a feature for your website, and so on.
2. Incent customers to enter your card number: As we mentioned yesterday, Citibank has made a significant investment by buying the pole position in the sign-up process. Assuming one million of its cardholders take advantage of the $5 credit, that's a $5 million expense, even without considering what they paid Google for the exposure. You might want to consider a similar program, although an iPod sweepstakes could be just as effective and less expensive.
3. Educate small merchants on the program: If you don't offer your own merchant processing, you should tell your business customers about this new way to save on card processing and potentially increase online sales.
4. Use it to fund new deposits during your online application: If you accept credit cards to fund new checking accounts, you could offer Google Checkout as a funding option. Provided you can use the AdWords credits, it could be a way to virtually eliminate the cost of interchange on these deposits. In fact, Google may have to erect some barriers here. Again, assuming you are a big AdWords spender, you could offer customers the option of making ongoing deposits via credit card, as long as the total deposited was no higher than your normal AdWords buy. For example, if you spend $10,000 per month in AdWords/AdSense, you could offset up to $100,000 in card-funded deposits.
5. Create a front-end to Google Checkout within your online banking area: Using account aggregation technology that saves the user's Google username and password on your server, you could make it easier for users to access their Google accounts. You could even go into full aggregation mode, by automatically downloading Checkout activity and displaying it within your online banking area.

Did I miss anything here? Email me (click on my initials below), if you have other brainstorms or comments.

—JB