Have you ever gotten so frustrated by punching in your credit card number on a tiny mobile screen while shopping online that you just gave up and abandoned your electronic shopping cart?
If so, Visa is attempting to make your life easier.
Or at least make you buy more things.
The service is called “Visa Checkout”, and it launched last week with a select few retail partners (the big names are Neiman Marcus, Pizza Hut and Staples) and according to the Associated Press, banks are lining up to support the service too.
For all the hubbub, “Visa Checkout” is essentially a new version of V.me, which is being abandoned by retailers in favor of “Checkout”. The company claims that this means progress.
Shop online at @NeimanMarcus with Visa Checkout. The easier way to pay online. http://t.co/7ceI210jrI pic.twitter.com/rzQml5a0lJ
— Visa (@Visa) July 17, 2014
“Visa Checkout is simpler than any other method,” said Sam Shrauger, senior vice president of digital at Visa told ComputerWorld. “People don’t want a wallet; they want to pay and be done.” The comment was a jab at similar services like Google Wallet which requires loading and unloading of funds, a process Visa is trying to avoid in the interests of saving the user time.
“When people come to our site, they are not looking to see what we do. They have a specific need to get that pizza as soon as possible,” Baron Concors, chief digital officer at Pizza Hut, said.
Chief Digital Officer for Pizza Hut talking about Visa Checkout: "Speed is of the essence when ordering pizza." Can't argue with that
— Jordan H. McKee (@jordanhmckee) July 16, 2014
Matthew Frankel of The Motely Fool speculated that this app may herald in the end of physical credit cards. “The plastic in your wallet is about to go the way of the typewriter, the VCR, and the 8-track tape player,” Frankel wrote, “When it does, a handful of investors could stand to get very rich. You can join them — but you must act now.”
Image via Visa, YouTube