Tech & Ecomm Summit: 'Checkouts have not moved on in 20 years', says Kamaluddin

During an interview on the role of payments in international expansion at the Retail Week Tech & Ecomm Summit, Kamaluddin criticised the length of time it took to complete a transaction on retailers’ websites.

He claimed it took one minute 50 seconds to place an order on order on a “pretty decent-sized online retailer’s website” in a recent experiment, and the same transaction took four minutes 36 seconds on a mobile device.

Kamaluddin, who is also a non-executive director at online payment services company Klarna, argues retailers should be seeking to cut out the data customers need to enter when shopping online.

He added “Mobile abandonment rates are about 97% and even on a PC there is a basket drop off of 60% to 70%.”

“I know 4 mins 36 seconds to checkout is awful. As players get more data and get more sophisticated about identifying customers – you need partners with scale who have probably seen this customer somewhere else.”

Kamaluddin also says little details can help massively boost a business and claims to have seen companies doubling international sales simply by adding additional payments.

He said: “It is easy to sit here in London and miss how different it is. Even in Germany people prefer to pay by invoicing or a bank transfer.

“In the Middle East 80% of transactions are cash on the door. As a foreign retailer you are already fighting a trust battle and competing against local players.”