The UAE’s leading financial institution, Mashreq, today became the first bank in the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa region to launch Visa Checkout, a new digital payment service offered to all Mashreq credit and debit cardholders that makes online purchases simpler, faster and safer.
Visa Checkout is a convenient and innovative ‘one-click’ alternative to the traditional, complex payment process which requires cardholders to provide the same type of information (name, address, card number) each time they make a purchase online.
Mashreq Cardholders can now sign up for this new digital payment service through Mashreq’s Visa Checkout enrollment page at www.mashreqbank.com/uae/en/credit-card/visa-checkout/. Enrolling in Visa Checkout 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 through a mobile app. Cardholders simply store their shipping and payment information in a secure account, and they never have to re-enter it when shopping online at sites that offer Visa Checkout. When a user sees the Visa Checkout button as a payment option, they can simply log into their account, enter their username and password, and with a single click, complete the purchase. Visa Checkout features an image of the Mashreq card, which has been shown from experience in other markets to increase the likelihood of cardholders to complete their online purchase. Visa uses advanced security technologies to protect cardholder information, including industry standard encryption and multilayer authentication.
Nimish Dwivedi, Head of Payments, Mashreq said, “The E-commerce space in the UAE is at a point of inflection and is set to grow four-fold by 2018. Furthermore, customer behavior online is rapidly evolving with transactions shifting from large screens (PCs & laptops) to small screens (smart phones). In this context, a global, ‘omni-channel’, payment solution like Visa Checkout that makes online purchases simpler, faster and safer will ensure that Mashreq Bank continues to be a leader in this space and make our credit and debit cards, the customers’ first choice for transacting online.”
According to research by yStats.com, B2C eCommerce in the UAE is expected to reach over AED8billion by 2019.[1]
Marcello Baricordi, General Manager UAE and Global Accounts Lead, Visa MENA, said: “The UAE online retail market is witnessing rapid growth, and for online consumers driving this trend, Visa Checkout will offer a faster, simpler and secure solution to complete their purchase. We have worked closely with Mashreq Bank to personalize the user’s online shopping experience by offering users a dedicated Visa Checkout enrollment page and featuring the artwork of the bank’s card products in the payment process. Our experience from other markets has shown that seeing card art during payment process increases the likelihood of cardholders completing purchase by 8 times. We are proud to partner with Mashreq Bank, and congratulate them for being the first financial institution in the UAE to offer Visa Checkout, and help save cardholders the trouble of filling up payment and shipping information during checkout at merchant websites.”
Globally, over four million Visa Checkout accounts have been created to date, and 260 financial institution partners and 140 merchants are now offering Visa Checkout for their customers. In the UAE, Visa Checkout accountholders can use the service to buy from popular international stores such as Orbitz, Lululemon, and Tory Burch.
Visa Checkout was first launched in July 2014 and is a quick and easy payment service to pay for goods online, on any device, in just a few clicks. According to a March 2015 Millward Brown[2] report commissioned by Visa in the US, 95 percent of online customers enrolled in Visa Checkout say sign-up was easy, and 96% feel secure making a purchase with Visa Checkout.
The new digital payment system from Visa solves the frustration that many online shoppers face in having to submit large amounts of information each time to complete a purchase online, making the checkout process faster and more convenient. A Visa-commissioned 2015 comScore study revealed that Visa Checkout enrolled customers have a 66% higher conversion rate when compared to traditional checkout customers.[3]
[1] Source info: http://www.ystats.com/product/mena-b2c-e-commerce-market-2015/
[2]Millward Brown Visa Checkout Customer Experience, March, 2015; commissioned by Visa.Based on data from an online survey of 1,241 U.S. consumers.
[3]comScore 2015 Visa Checkout Study, commissioned by Visa. Based on data from the comScore research panel of one million U.S. PC/laptop users, August-December 2014