One-click checkout is checkout software that fills in a shopper's address and shows the payment options in a single step, so that the shopper can pay without typing a long form. It is also called a fast checkout or checkout optimisation. A brand adds it to its e-commerce platform, in place of the platform's own checkout page.
The problem it solves is simple. Many shoppers fill a cart and then leave at the checkout. A long form for name, address, pincode and landmark is one big reason, especially on a phone.
Imagine a shopper in Lucknow who buys a ₹899 face serum from a skincare brand's website for the first time. She taps Buy. The checkout page shows one box, for her mobile number, and sends an OTP to that number. She has never shopped on this brand's site. But the same checkout software runs on thousands of Indian brand stores, and she gave her address on one of them last month. So the checkout finds her saved address from her phone number and shows it, ready to confirm. Matching one person's details across many stores like this is called identity resolution. She taps once to confirm the address.
Next, the checkout shows the payment options: UPI, cards, net banking, buy now, pay later (BNPL) and cash on delivery (COD). She chooses UPI. The checkout passes the payment to a payment gateway, which collects ₹899 from her bank account. The checkout itself does not move money. It collects the shopper's details, shows the options and hands the payment to the gateway.
Cash on delivery needs extra care in India. When a shopper refuses a COD parcel at the door, the parcel travels back to the seller. The seller pays the courier for both trips and earns nothing. This is called cash on delivery and RTO, return to origin. So, before it offers COD, the checkout runs COD risk scoring on the order. If the risk is high, it may offer a discount for paying now by UPI, or ask for a small advance.
Once the order is confirmed, the checkout records it in the store. Then shipping software can book a courier for it.
A checkout company becomes more useful as more stores use it, because every store adds to its records of addresses and of phone numbers that have refused parcels before. These records are personal data. The company must store them securely and use them only with the shopper's consent, under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act.