Visa launches online checkout system in SA

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Visa Checkout was first launched in July 2014 in the US, Canada and Australia and is a quick and easy payment service to pay for goods online, on any device, in just a few clicks. It solves the frustration that many online shoppers face in having to submit large amounts of detail each time to complete a purchase online by providing a quick and simple solution accessible from any device they use for browsing. To date over three million accounts are active and in use at over 110 e-commerce retailers.

"Visa Checkout has seen tremendous growth in just the few months since it's been available. Consumers and merchants alike love its simplicity and ease, which is particularly important as people shop and buy more frequently on smaller devices like mobile phones and tablets but still want to use the payment cards they already know and trust," said Dougie Henderson, Head of Emerging Payments & Innovation-Africa.

"While a nascent market, 25% of South African shoppers find online shopping fun and exciting and enjoy the freedom to shop freely without pressure. What's interesting is that more than 80% of South African internet users access the web using their smartphones and while still a growing phenomenon, a third of South African smartphone users are making purchases over their phone."

"We are thus very excited to announce that consumers in South Africa can now sign up for Visa Checkout at www.visacheckout.com and start using the service to shop at the international merchants in North America and Australia that already support Visa Checkout. Over the next few months, we will work with local bank and merchant partners to on-board local merchants to offer this service."

Simple Way to Pay

"Our goal is to make purchases online and on mobile devices as simple, convenient and secure as swiping a card, and that's exactly what we designed Visa Checkout to do," said Paul McCrea, Head of Product, CEMEA, Visa, "and for merchants and financial institutions, we have designed it to easily integrate and fit into existing flows utilizing existing infrastructure. We have also added advanced risk tools to evaluate user activity and reduce fraud risk, all with the strength of the Visa brand behind it."

Enrolling is intuitive and simple, and shoppers can use any Visa debit or credit card or even other branded cards to make purchases from a PC, mobile device or within a mobile app. Consumers simply store their shipping and payment information in a secure account with Visa once, and they never have to re-enter it again when shopping online at merchants who offer this service. When a user sees the Visa Checkout button as a payment option, they simply log into their account, enter their username and password, and click a button to complete the purchase.