Visa Checkout expands its merchant network (V)

BI Intelligence

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At the Shoptalk retail trade show, Visa announced that several major merchants, including Alaska Airlines, Chick-fil-A, Cole Haan, Emirates, and the Wyndham Hotel Group, plan to integrate Visa Checkout, the card network’s single-click buy button, into their online platforms.

Adding these merchants will help Visa continue to grow its merchant network, which already counts over 250,000 merchants that represent $113 billion in addressable volume.  

Merchants are likely turning to Visa Checkout to boost mobile buying as shopping on mobile becomes increasingly common.

• M-commerce is increasing rapidly. As mobile becomes a primary computing device, users are completing more mobile purchases — BI Intelligence forecasts that, by 2020, mobile will comprise 45% of total US e-commerce sales. But users currently prefer to buy on desktop, because of the friction associated with mobile phones’ smaller screens and slower connections. 
• Visa Checkout helps merchants convert a larger share of potential purchases. Visa Checkout conversion rates are high because it eliminates some of those pain points — users complete purchases from their shopping cart 86% of the time, and conversion rates are 51% higher on Visa Checkout compared to a merchant's traditional offering, according to comScore.
• That could be appealing to merchants looking to capitalize on increased mobile activity and boost their digital sales. Visa Checkout customers are potentially lucrative for merchants — users make 30% more online transactions per person than the average online shopper. The prospect of unlocking the full spending power of this shopper segment could convince more merchants to sign on to Visa Checkout.

Visa Checkout's success and consequent expansion is one small piece of an increasingly complex ecosystem. Mobile wallets, increased security, and alternative technologies are all shaping the way we pay for goods and services.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
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The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.