Guest checkout at retail websites remains hugely popular—so much so that even shoppers who already have accounts are still more likely to choose the guest option. The next challenge for merchants will be striking the right balance between security and a seamless checkout experience.
Customers, especially younger ones, increasingly resist creating accounts on retail sites. According to research from Experian, just 40% say they’ve opened a new retail account in the past six months.
Among those ages 18 to 24, roughly 20% couldn’t even remember whether they had opened a retail account at all. For many consumers, onboarding has become optional enough that they either don’t bother with it—or streamlined enough that they don’t recall doing it.
Experian’s report cited earlier research from Capterra, which found that 72% of shoppers use guest checkout even when they already have an account. More than half of respondents said they’ll abandon their cart if asked to reenter payment or shipping details. A separate study from the Baymard Institute found that nearly one in five U.S. shoppers will abandon a cart if they are forced to create an account.
Fraud in a Low-Information Environment
Balancing transaction conversion and data security become more complex in guest checkout scenarios, where merchants have limited information to assess risk. The challenge is even more pressing for younger consumers, who not only prefer guest checkout but also show lower trust in traditional authentication methods.
“This becomes a double-edged sword for merchants,” said Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “They want to offer a frictionless guest checkout experience, but at the same time they would rather the consumer create an account so they can store more data about the consumer and their purchases.”
Behavioral analytics offers a way to evaluate fraud risk without requiring a full login, helping maintain streamline checkout flow. It also aligns with Gen Z preferences: according to Experian, roughly three-quarters of Gen Z respondents said they view physical biometrics as the safest security method, followed closely by behavioral biometrics.
Spanning Many Retail Sites
Another emerging solution is the use of third-party services that facilitate guest checkout across multiple retailer sites, like Shopify’s ShopPay and Early Warning Services’ Paze.
“Consumers can store details like shipping address and payment credentials in these accounts,” said Apgar. “Typically, a returning consumer is ID’d via browser cookies. They work across a network of participating merchants, enabling the consumer to use guest checkout each time.”
