Visa have announced that Visa Checkout has launched in the UK, debuting on lastminute.com.
The popular checkout service allows users to conduct their online shopping with a single sign in of a username and password across all Visa Checkout merchants.
Visa Checkout launched in the US in 2014 and the service is currently available in 23 markets, with 300,000 merchants and over 20 million consumer accounts.
Kevin Jenkins, Managing Director of Visa UK & Ireland, said: “We are delighted to welcome lastminute.com onboard as the first UK retailer to offer the benefits of Visa Checkout. We are actively working with leading retailers to bring the benefits of faster and more secure checkout to online shopper in the UK.”
“Consumers are increasingly demanding secure and easy-to-use digital payments when making purchases online. By removing the hassle of typing in payment account and shipping information each time, we have seen a noticeable increase in conversion rates for online retailers.”
Lastminute.com an online travel agents, is the first to sign up to the UK extension of the service, and there are plans to introduce more.
In the past UK shoppers have been able to use the service with global merchants, but lastminute.com marks the first time that a UK retailer has offered the service.
Currently any user with a Visa cards from Barclays, Barclaycard, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, The Co-operative Bank and other issuers will be entitled to use the service.
Brian Cole, CEO UK Cards, Barclaycard, said: “Streamlining the online shopping journey is something we know our customers will welcome so we’re looking forward to being one of the first issuers in the UK to offer Visa Checkout.
“By removing the need to input personal and payment information every time they shop online, Visa Checkout makes it quicker, easier and more convenient for customers, and most importantly it does so whilst keeping their details safe and secure.”
Currently the UK is the largest eCommerce market in Europe and spends more online than the next three largest markets combined.
