Skipify, Google Partner To Bring Shopping To Gmail

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered payments startup Skipify is partnering with Google to deliver shopping features within the Gmail ecosystem, the companies said announced on Friday (Oct. 23).

Gmail users will be able to view products in real time and checkout with a shopping cart without leaving the email space. Merchants who have already participated in the shoppable email program reported that have seen revenue from email jump 30 percent or more. Further, unsubscribe rates dropped 50 percent.

“We’re thrilled to be working with the team at Google Gmail to help merchants bring shopping into the inbox for the first time,” said Skipify Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ryth Martin. 

“We are in the very early stages of a shift to unlock commerce and payments within and across channels. Skipify is here to help brands drive and capitalize on that shift.”

Email marketing’s high return on investment (ROI) combined with the acceleration in online shopping makes email that much more important to brands, Martin said. While COVID-19 has upended the economy and forced some companies out of business, revenue from online shopping has grown almost five times pre-pandemic levels.

The problem is that if someone wants to buy something promoted in an email, it can take up to two minutes to make the purchase. “During these two minutes, almost 70% of shoppers abandon the purchase,” according to the company’s statement.

To participate in the shopping program, merchants work directly with Skipify and usually do not have to change email providers. No additional email coding is necessary by the merchants.

Skipify is striving to create a frictionless commerce experience for shoppers and brands and offers a secure omnichannel payments network. The platform enables shoppers to quickly buy products across email, text, social, affiliate, display and web channels. 

Google said on Thursday (Oct. 22) that it is adding new tools to improve its Shopping tab so users know where to find the best prices. Price tracking will be available across all online and local merchants and people can get deal alerts when better deals surface.