PayPal makes quick guest-checkout solution Fastlane available to U.S. businesses

PayPal said on Tuesday that it is making its quick guest-checkout solution, Fastlane, available to all U.S. merchants after testing it with select businesses for a few months. Businesses will initially have to use the company’s payment processing services, such as PayPal Braintree or PayPal Complete Payments, to use Fastlane.

The company first started testing Fastlane in January. It stores customer data such as their names, email IDs, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and payment details. When a customer is on a merchant’s website, Fastlane can pull all of this data without the customer having to log in. Users just need to enter a verification code they get via email to approve a purchase.

PayPal said it relies on signals like a customer entering their phone number or email to fetch data from Fastlane. If a customer is not signed up for Fastlane, PayPal gives them an option to do so during the checkout.

According to a study published by Capterra, which sells software for marketplaces, 43% of customers prefer checking out their shopping as a “guest” so that they don’t have to sign in to e-commerce websites. And, 72% of consumers said they choose guest checkout even if they have an account.

Frank Keller, EVP of large enterprise and merchant platforms at PayPal, told TechCrunch over a call that Fastlane helps businesses with better conversion.

“If you look at conversion rates of guest checkouts, they are fundamentally lower than merchants get with other methods because you need to fill in all your information. That’s why we built Fastlane to improve the speed of guest checkout, because speed wins sales,” Keller said.

PayPal claims that during the Fastlane test, guest checkout conversions were around 80% and checkouts were 32% faster.

PayPal Fastlane competes with other one-click solutions such as Stripe Link, Checkout.com, OurPass, and Deuna. Keller added that the company plans to offer this service in other regions.