The slowest part of buying anything online on a phone is typing. A name, an email, a delivery address with a suburb and postcode, a card number, an expiry date and a security code, all entered with a thumb on a small screen, often with a promotional pop-up hovering in the background. Every field is a chance to get distracted, make an error or decide the purchase can wait until later, and later frequently never comes.
Digital wallets remove most of that typing. Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay hold the customer's card and address details and hand them to the checkout in a tap, confirmed by a fingerprint, a face scan or a saved login. For an NZ ecommerce business, the commercial question is which payment methods belong in the checkout, where the buttons should sit and what each one costs and changes. Getting that mix right is one of the most direct improvements available to a store that already has buyers reaching checkout.
Why checkout length costs sales
Baymard Institute's long-running research into checkout usability lists unexpected extra costs and long or complicated checkouts among the most common reasons shoppers abandon a purchase they have already started. Both happen at the moment of highest intent. The customer has chosen the product and decided to buy, and the store then asks them to do work.
Wallets shorten the work dramatically for returning wallet users. A customer who has paid with Apple Pay anywhere before has their details ready, and a customer who has bought from any store using Shop Pay can be recognised by email or phone number and have their details filled in. The checkout becomes a confirmation step instead of a form.
The payment methods worth offering in New Zealand
An NZ checkout needs to reflect how New Zealanders pay, which is a mix of cards, wallets and a smaller share of alternative methods. Too few options sends some buyers away. Too many clutters the checkout and adds fees and reconciliation work for methods few of your customers use.
Cards
Visa and Mastercard are the baseline, and most checkouts accept American Express as well. Every other method in this list sits on top of card acceptance.
Apple Pay and Google Pay
These are the wallets built into the phones most customers already carry. On Shopify, they are available through Shopify Payments, which operates in New Zealand. On other platforms, they are offered through the payment provider, such as Stripe. For mobile buyers, these two buttons do most of the work of shortening checkout.
Shop Pay
Shop Pay is Shopify's own accelerated checkout. It remembers a customer's details across every Shopify store they have used it on, so a first-time buyer at your store may already be a returning Shop Pay user. It is available on Shopify stores, including those that use another platform for their front end.
PayPal
PayPal still matters to a segment of buyers who prefer not to share card details with a store they have not bought from before. It is worth offering when your analytics or your customer base suggest it is used, particularly for older or overseas buyers.
Buy now, pay later
Afterpay and similar services split a purchase into instalments. They suit stores with higher order values and younger customers, and some buyers will only purchase above a certain price when instalments are offered. They also carry higher merchant fees than cards, so treat them as a pricing decision. Check the effective cost on your average order value before switching them on.
Where the buttons go
Express checkout buttons can appear at the start of checkout, in the cart and on product pages. Each position has a trade-off.
On the product page, an express button lets a buyer go straight from deciding to paying, which suits single-item purchases and gifts. It also skips the cart, so cross-sells, free shipping progress messages and gift options are never seen. In the cart, the button sits after the customer has reviewed their order, which keeps those prompts in view while still saving the typing. At the top of checkout, it catches everyone who reaches that step.
For most stores the cart and the start of checkout are the right places, with product page buttons reserved for stores selling mostly single items. Test product page buttons against your average order value, because a faster checkout that loses the second item in the basket may produce less revenue.
The details that make wallets work
A wallet only removes friction if the rest of the checkout is ready for it. Shipping rates need to calculate correctly from the address the wallet supplies, including rural addresses, so the customer sees the right cost before confirming. Our guide to Shopify shipping rates in NZ covers that setup. Discount codes need a clear place to be entered before the wallet sheet opens. And a store that requires account creation before purchase will undo most of the benefit, so guest checkout should be the default.
Wallet payments still go through fraud checks, and the business still carries responsibility for chargebacks on most of them. Review the fraud settings in your payment provider once wallets are switched on, particularly for high-value orders shipped to an address that differs from the billing address.
How Shopify and Webflow handle it
Shopify
On a Shopify store using Shopify Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay are switched on in the payment settings and appear in checkout without custom work. Whether express buttons also show in the cart and on product pages depends on the theme. An older or heavily customised theme may not display them, which is a theme update rather than a payments project. Deeper changes to the checkout itself are largely limited to Shopify Plus.
Webflow
Webflow's native ecommerce uses Stripe and PayPal as payment gateways. Through Stripe, a Webflow site can accept Apple Pay and Google Pay. Shop Pay is a Shopify product, so it is not part of Webflow's native checkout. For brands that want Webflow's design flexibility with Shopify's checkout, the commerce can run on Shopify while the front end runs on Webflow. We built Slight Twist this way, with a Webflow front end and Shopify commerce, and the site went on to win three CSSDA awards. Our guide to choosing between Webflow and Shopify covers when that split makes sense.
Custom platforms
Stores on custom or older platforms can add wallets through providers such as Stripe, but the work covers the payment integration, testing across devices and fraud configuration. Scope it like any other integration. If the platform makes basic checkout improvements this hard, that is often a sign it is time to look at a replatform.
Measuring the effect
Once wallets are live, track two things. In Shopify, the share of orders by payment method shows how many customers use each option, which tells you whether a method is pulling its weight or just adding clutter. The checkout completion rate, measured on mobile separately from desktop and compared against the period before the change, shows whether the shorter path is turning more checkouts into orders.
Watch average order value as well. If express buttons on product pages are lifting completion and lowering basket size, move them to the cart and compare again. The aim is more revenue per session, and a faster checkout is the means to it. Our piece on improving your Shopify conversion rate covers how checkout fits with the rest of the funnel.
The checkout an NZ customer expects
The baseline for an NZ store selling to consumers is now well established. Wallet buttons should be visible at the start of checkout and in the cart. Guest checkout should be the default. Shipping costs should be shown before payment, including rural surcharges, and the payment methods your customers use should be offered without a long list of the ones they do not. A store that meets that baseline has removed the most common reasons for abandoning at the last step, and the remaining work is in the product pages and the offer.
If your checkout is held back by an old theme or a platform that makes these changes difficult, we can scope the work as part of an ecommerce build or a targeted update.
Common questions
Does Shopify support Apple Pay and Google Pay in New Zealand?
Yes, it does. Shopify Payments operates in New Zealand and supports Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay, which are switched on in the store's payment settings. They appear in checkout automatically for customers whose device supports them. Whether express buttons also appear in the cart and on product pages depends on your theme, so check both on a real phone after switching them on.
Can a Webflow store accept Apple Pay?
Yes, through Stripe. Webflow's native ecommerce connects to Stripe, and Stripe supports Apple Pay and Google Pay for eligible devices and browsers. PayPal is also available as a gateway. Shop Pay is a Shopify product and is not part of Webflow's native checkout. Brands that want Shop Pay with a Webflow front end can run their commerce on Shopify instead.
What is Shop Pay and do NZ customers use it?
Shop Pay is Shopify's accelerated checkout. It stores a customer's payment and delivery details and fills them in at any Shopify store where they use it, so a new customer at your store may already be a returning Shop Pay user. Your Shopify reports show the share of orders paid by each method, which tells you how many of your own customers use it.
Should I put express checkout buttons on my product pages?
It depends on what you sell. Express buttons on product pages suit stores where most orders contain a single item, such as gifts or one-off purchases. They skip the cart, so customers miss cross-sells and free shipping prompts. Stores with multi-item baskets do better with express buttons in the cart and at checkout. Test the change and compare revenue per session.
Is buy now, pay later worth offering on an NZ online store?
It can be for stores with higher order values and customers who prefer to spread payments. Buy now, pay later services charge merchants more than standard card payments, so calculate the effective cost on your average order value first. After switching it on, compare order value and conversion against the period before to see whether it brings in sales that would not have happened otherwise.
