Visa Introduces Visa Checkout to Simplify Online Shopping on Any Device

07/17/2014

New data reveals one in three Australians have walked away from an online purchase because it was too hard.

Sydney - Visa, the global leader in payments, today announced the launch of Visa Checkout, a quick and easy payment service that enables Australian consumers to pay for goods online, on any device, in just a few clicks. It addresses the frustration expressed by 44 per cent of Australian shoppers surveyed by Visa who are frustrated by the large amounts of detail usually required to complete a purchase online.

Visa’s study, The Future of Payments – Everywhere Commerce (the Study), found that 92 per cent of Australians have bought products or services online, however more than one in three (37%) have abandoned an online purchase after finding it too difficult. Another third (30%) of online shoppers admitted to walking away from a digital transaction after forgetting the unique password required by each merchant website. Security also remains a key issue for online shopping with 64 per cent of people avoiding it when they feel uncertain about the security of a particular website.

Easier Way to Pay
For consumers and online retailers, Visa Checkout offers an easy and secure way to pay online. Enrolling in Visa Checkout is intuitive and simple, and shoppers can use any Visa debit or credit card or even other major payment cards to make purchases from a PC, mobile device or within a mobile app. Once enrolled, shoppers simply provide their username and password to complete the payment process -- without ever having to leave the merchant’s website.

Event Cinemas is the first merchant in Australia to offer Visa Checkout. The Study highlighted entertainment as one of the top online purchasing categories for Australian consumers, with mobile applications supporting ticketing for concerts, sport and cinema proliferating. Other merchants accepting Visa Checkout through their eCommerce and mobile sites are scheduled to follow soon.

“The fastest growing way in which our customers buy tickets is on their mobile. Our customers pick their movie, session time, their seats and even candy bar treats on our mobile website and the Event Cinemas App. Completing their transaction with us quickly, in a trusted and hassle free way is critical to our business,” said Kristie Atkins, Director of Sales, Amalgamated Holdings Limited (owner, Event Cinemas).

“As the first merchant in Australia to offer Visa Checkout this is just one more way we are ensuring customers have a great experience with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter where they are,” she said.

Visa Checkout replaces the V.me by Visa service, first introduced in Australia in late 2013, providing greater simplicity for merchants to integrate with the service and a new brand name that speaks to the purpose and promise of the product. The many merchants currently live with V.me by Visa including CatchOfTheDay, Cotton On, Escape Travel, Flight Centre, City Beach, JB Hi-Fi Home, DealsDirect.com.au, OO.com.au, Skiddoo, Lorna Jane and Bonds will rebrand to Visa Checkout in the coming months. Australian account holders who are currently signed up to V.me by Visa will automatically move to the new service today and be able to sign in with their same username and password.

“Since we launched V.me by Visa, online and mobile commerce has continued to grow quickly with many businesses placing further emphasis on selling through websites and mobile apps. Our merchant partners have adopted the service and will now rebrand to Visa Checkout which provides the simplicity and consumer experience that people expect from Visa,” said Greg Storey, Head of Visa Checkout for Visa in Asia Pacific and Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (APCEMEA).

In the United States, Neiman Marcus, Pizza Hut, Staples and United Airlines are some of the newest merchant partners to join other top online retailers to offer Visa Checkout.

“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 payments cards they already know and trust,” said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa Inc. “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 Visa payWave in the face to face environment.”

According to the Study, Australians use their PC as their primary online shopping device, with desktop purchases making up 90 per cent of Australian online sales, but mobile shopping is quickly catching up, especially among younger users. One in three shoppers aged between 18 and 29 had shopped using a mobile device while commuting to or from work. A further 22 per cent of respondents admitted to regularly shopping online during work hours, while another 25 per cent left it until the early evening, between 5pm and 9pm.

“Regardless of the device used, Visa Checkout offers a seamless, consistent shopping experience across any participating merchant website,” added Storey.

Consumers can sign up for Visa Checkout at any time through a participating bank, or merchant checkout page or directly at www.visacheckout.com.au.

 

About Visa
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 47,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products.

About the Study
The Future of Payments – Everywhere Commerce study (the Study) commissioned by Visa surveyed 1,000 Australian adults to discover their online shopping habits in November, 2013.

Media Enquiries
Porter Novelli
Kirilly Mallard, Bennett Ring, Thomas Hann on behalf of Visa
Ph +61 2 8987 2100
M 0412 449 307 / 0416 325 699 / 0408 880 536
Email: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

Visa Inc. Australia
Teneille Rennick
+61449892915
[email protected]