The top credit card networks in America are teaming up to create a streamlined checkout process for ecommerce sites. Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express are implementing a click to pay service for several online retailers, beginning this month.
Most physical stores have the same general checkout process for credit card purchases. Go to a register, dip/swipe a card, and then get a receipt. Online retailers do not have the same uniformity.
With click to pay, there is one universal checkout button that shoppers can identify, similar to the PayPal logo available for most checkout services. Payments are processed through tokenization, which means that each card transaction is assigned a one-time token. The actual credit card number is not stored anywhere, creating better security for online payments.
The first retailers to launch click to pay are Cinemark, Rakuten and Movember. Later this year, the service is scheduled to add Papa John’s, JoAnn Fabric and Crafts, BassPro, Saks Fifth Avenue, SHOP.com and Tickets.com.
Consumers aren’t the only ones to benefit from a universal checkout button. Click to pay also has the potential to reduce cart abandonment. This occurs when an online shopper leaves a transaction before it is complete. With a simplified and uniform process, shoppers may be less likely to get frustrated during checkout, and thus more likely to complete their purchases.