Google Checkout Making (Really Small) Strides Against PayPal

Filed as News on November 30, 2006 11:42 pm

by Tony Hung

So Hitwise presented some data a few days ago on how Google Checkout was faring against PayPal given that they are both trying lure online shoppers this holiday season.  It is claiming that Google’s marketshare rose 158%, while PayPal’s lead dropped in half.  This interpretation is actually misleading, because Google’s Checkout numbers really went from negligible (almost zero) to a little more than negligible (a little more than zero).  For example, when your market share goes from 0.001% to 0.002%, your numbers just went up by 100%, and, of course your competitor’s lead was just cut in half.  The real information is in the absolute numbers, which is plainly visible in the graph, and it clearly shows that the lead from PayPal’s point of view, is still massive.

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  1. By Robyn Tippins posted on December 1, 2006 at 1:43 am
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    I see your point on Google’s numbers not being so massive, but what about PayPal’s drop?

  2. By Tony posted on December 1, 2006 at 1:51 am
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    When you describe the drop from a relative point of view, it sounds massive — not so when you look at the absolute numbers.

    If google’s reach went from 1->2%, then you effectively halved PayPal’s gain on Google, no matter what PayPal’s numbers were, if they stayed the same.

    i.e. Paypal, for example, 80% –> 80x –> 40x.

    But from an absolute numbers point of view, its still 2% vs. 80%, so google really hadn’t made much of a dent at all.

  3. By Todd posted on December 2, 2006 at 3:09 am
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    Of course this was before it was revealed that Google Checkout is interfering with the tracking of affiliate sales for many merchants. For the full story go to this thread at ABestWeb:

    http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=82361

    – Todd Martini
    Alex’s Coupons
    http://www.alexscoupons.com