Visa has moved to make its Checkout digital payments service more mobile-friendly by letting e-shoppers complete their purchases by sliding a virtual image of a card across their screens.
Introduced in 2014 as a way to take on PayPal, Visa Checkout lets retailers embed a button within their sites and apps so that customers can make payments without having to navigate away.
Initially shoppers were require to enter their username and password to complete a transaction but the latest update streamlines the process. Now, instead of a lightbox, customers see a picture of a card on the Visa Checkout button, swipe it to the right, and enter their password.
Visa says that pilots show that the swipe feature results in customers being twice as likely to click through and complete purchases compared to the current Checkout process.
The button is initially only available to merchants selling digital goods and services or items that customers pick up at physical stores. It will be extended to merchants that ship goods over the next few months.
Sam Shrauger, SVP, digital solutions, Visa, says: "This new experience brings digital payments one step closer to the ease, trust and familiarity that consumers have long valued from Visa in the physical world."