Parrot launches SDK for checkout via text

‘Decoupling’ has become a trendy word in eCommerce as of late.

• Decouple your frontend from your backend
• Decouple checkout from your CMS

And to confuse things even more, headless commerce (also trending) is considered decoupled, but not all decoupled commerce is headless.

In all this decoupling, most eCommerce merchants and SaaS providers are still pushing consumers toward an experience where checkout occurs entirely via browser. But Osayame Gaius, founder and CEO of Parrot, is focused on helping merchants decouple mobile payments from the browser. 

“Parrot is an API for passwordless checkout that helps merchants collect 1-click payments directly over text,” according to Osayame. Osayame started Parrot after leading payments at MailChimp and exploring payments in Nigeria, where he immigrated from as a child.

Parrot this week launched a Javascript SDK for SMS-based checkout. Launched on Product Hunt, the SDK entirely removes the checkout process from a merchant’s CMS backend and removes the need for consumers to remember emails and passwords. Osayame says the SDK is a ShopPay alternative for merchants not using Shopify.

When a consumer goes to checkout on a Parrot-enabled website for the first time they’re texted a link. The link takes them to a credit card form.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. After that, any merchant using Parrot just needs the consumer to reply “yes” or thumbs up to confirm any future payments. One brand Parrot supports - Bat Club - is using the API to solve issues with recurring payments and reduce subscription churn. 

Osayame said merchants eventually will be able to use Parrot to communicate with their customers and provide payment links and launch exclusive drops akin to MSCHF.