The global subscription economy is on a steady rise, expected to reach a staggering $406B by 2025. As the trend of consumers subscribing to services in sectors such as retail, food and more increases, so does the challenge of managing their payments.
Recognizing this, Visa (NYSE: V), a world leader in digital payments, today announced the launch of Subscription Manager, a new, all-in-one service for financial institutions to provide Visa cardholders with a simple, convenient way to track their subscriptions, all from the palm of their hands.
In the era of subscription overload, consumers are grappling with the complexities of managing multiple subscriptions across a web of apps. Navigating through each platform’s unique terms can potentially lead to unnoticed charges, even after a subscription is cancelled. Visa’s new Subscription Manager streamlines key aspects of recurring payments in one place, allowing cardholders to see where their card details are stored, view which recurring payments are attributed to their card, and stop recurring payments.
“Managing subscriptions can often feel like a maze, with consumers sometimes feeling trapped in a cycle of confusing charges,” said Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, global head of Issuing Solutions at Visa. “Our goal is to make this process simpler and ensure cardholders know exactly where their money is going, and when.”
As consumer expectations for seamless, secure digital payments grow, it’s crucial for issuers to keep pace. A forthcoming Visa report supports this trend, revealing that 63% of surveyed consumers are comfortable with a future that relies entirely on digital money. The rapid introduction of new digital financial tools and services is propelling this shift, with consumers increasingly turning to apps and mobile wallets to manage their finances. The same report also found that over half of the consumers surveyed have adopted the use of mobile wallets in just the past year.
Subscription Manager is the newest addition to Visa’s Digital Enablement product suite, a comprehensive set of tools and flexible solutions aimed to help issuers offer better digital experiences for their cardholders. The new solution supports Visa’s ongoing efforts to increase transparency and control in the subscription economy, building on initiatives such as its 2020 mandate that requires merchants to obtain cardholder consent after free trials or introductory promotions before initiating billing.
Subscription Manager is currently in pilot in select regions. For more information on this, as well as Visa’s issuing solutions and other value-added services for businesses, please visit the Visa Developer Center.