1-click checkout Renaissance?

If you’re an online shopaholic, chances are you have all of your information saved into Safari or Chrome autofill. But what if the process could be even sleeker?

The founders of Sleek Pay, a YC S21 company, launched a new Chrome extension that promises to do just that. Maker Daniel Baum noticed that “‘fast’ checkouts aren’t [always] available at big retailers,” and that “autofill [can be] clunky and frequently wrong.” Sleek Pay’s solution? Enter your address and credit card information into Sleek Pay once and then check out with “1-click” at 50 different retailers.

As a browser extension, Sleek Pay pops up on the right-hand side of checkout pages and a “start checkout” button prompts the 1-click checkout process. Once that’s clicked, users can watch as their personal information automatically gets filled out and then place their order.

While 1-click checkout isn’t yet available everywhere, Sleek Pay also has a cashback integration that’s currently available at over 1500 retailers. Whether or not it’s a 1-click purchase, users can earn money back when they use Sleek.

For online shoppers that are tired of losing the high-demand item in their cart to bots or scalpers, it also makes us wonder if Sleek Pay could eventually make snagging hyped products a little easier. Sneaker bots are especially notorious for swiping hot releases from avid sneakerheads—in 2019, streetwear shop Bodega released a limited-edition New Balance 997S sneaker, and 60% of sales went to shoppers using bots.

Could Sleek’s promise for 1-click checkout change the game? While this year’s abrupt shutdown of Fast caused a lot of noise in the startup world, we’ve continued to see plenty of new launches in the eCommerce space that could point to a need for an easier checkout solution.

Still, Instagram’s recent announcement that it’s scaling back its shopping features might be a telltale sign that folks are shopping less amid the current downturn. What are your thoughts?

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