Credit card companies join forces to create one-click payment online

Joyce Abaño

14th Jul 2020

Four major credit card companies have banded together to make it easier to shop online by removing the need to key in personal account numbers and passwords at checkout.

Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover launched their click-to-pay solution last October, with the idea that it would remove one of the hassles of shopping online and therefore reduce cart abandonment.

Now the technology is available in Australia, after payment processors Bambora, eWAY, Fat Zebra and Cybersource enabled the functionality for local businesses.

Pizza Hut, Optus and Ticketek are among the first local businesses to offer click to pay at checkout.

Built on the EMV Secure Remote Commerce industry specification, click to pay is designed to mirror the consistent checkout experience in physical stores – with one terminal, or in this case ‘button’, to accept all cards.

The solution comes at a time when e-commerce transactions are booming.

According to Visa, around 37 per cent of Australians have made five or more online purchases in the past three months, yet more than 40 per cent have given up on an online purchase due to the amount of information required – representing lost sales for Australian businesses.

“Click-to-pay provides an efficient solution, removing the need to key in personal account numbers and passwords,” the company stated.

Visa’s Group country manager for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific Julian Potter said a smooth online checkout that replicates the seamless experience provided by contactless payments in store is now essential for e-commerce businesses.

“With click-to-pay, we are removing the friction caused by manual card entry, passwords and other hurdles consumers and businesses face in today’s digital-first world,” Potter said.

Pizza Hut Australia’s CEO Phil Reed said the checkout function will help the business differentiate in a highly competitive market.

“Operating in a highly competitive market means we need to continually become more relevant to more Australians through ease, speed and value – and a seamless checkout helps us to deliver on this,” Reed said.