Last month Visa rebranded and relauched its V.me eCommerce payment service. Now called Visa Checkout, the service still intends to simplify and make shopping online through any type of computing device as simple as it is to swipe a physical credit card at a store, while maintaining a high level of security.
First launched in 2012, Visa has decided to enhance and relaunch the service to incorporate consumers' shopping habits, which utilize different types of devices. "As people around the world spend more time and money online, particularly using mobile devices, they are demanding a fast, secure and frictionless way to shop using the payment cards they already know and trust," said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa Inc., in a statement. "Through insights provided by our cardholders, financial institutions and merchant partners, we designed an online payment experience that continues to deliver on this promise, bringing us closer to the simplicity and speed of the 'swipe' in the online world."
Visa Checkout stores a consumer's payment and shipping information in a secure account that they can access when they're checking out during an online shopping transaction. When they shop online, whether it be through a computer, tablet or mobile phone, and the retailer offers a Visa Checkout button, they can then press it to log into their Visa Checkout account, and their card and shipping information is directly transferred to the retailer's website. The idea is to make the checkout process less of a hassle--instead of needing to fill out multiple screens with shipping and billing information, Visa Checkout will be able to do this process with one click.
"People aren't looking for another wallet -- they just want a simpler way to pay online, particularly on mobile devices, and that's exactly what we designed Visa Checkout to do," said Sam Shrauger, senior vice president, digital solutions at Visa, in a statement. "And for merchants and financial institutions, we've made Visa Checkout easy to implement and added advanced security features to help reduce the risk of fraud -- all with the strength of the Visa brand behind it."
"Consumers expect payment technology to be simple and secure, and Visa Checkout delivers. We see Visa Checkout as a perfect complement to U.S. Bank's current online banking and payment services, and we are thrilled to further enhance our customer experience with this new capability," said Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for U.S. Bank Payments Services, in a statement.
Many major card issuers have already signed up to offer this service, including Bank of America, BB&T Corporation, Chase, Citi, PNC Bank N.A., Regions Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. Many major Internet retailers have also jumped on board, including Neiman Marcus, Staples, 1-800-FLOWERS, Jos. A Bank, lululemon athletica, Ticketmaster, Wine Enthusiast and Pizza Hut.
Online food ordering may be an ideal fit for Visa Checkout, as placing online orders for food delivery becomes more common, particularly through mobile devices by people placing orders on the go. "We're focused on making the digital ordering experience as easy as possible and adding this checkout option with Visa Checkout does just that," said Baron Concors, chief digital officer at Pizza Hut, in a statement.
Visa Checkout is available to its customers in the United States, Canada and Australia, and users can register different types of Visa-branded cards, including credit, debit and prepaid cards. Consumers can register their cards either through their banks, through participating merchants, or by visiting www.visacheckout.com.
Visa has also created the Visa Developers program to enable software and app developers the tools needed to incorporate Visa Checkout as a payment option on their sites.
