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?
