How the ease of tap-and-go is making its way to online checkout

Business Insider

5 hours ago

Not too long ago, shopping meant heading into town, hunting for a parking space, and queueing at the till with aching arms. Today, consumers can browse and buy from just about anywhere. In many ways, shopping has never been more convenient or flexible.
But when it comes to online shopping, that convenience often falls short — with more steps, more pauses, and none of the ease of a simple tap at the till.
So, what's behind the friction, and how do we fix it? We spoke with leaders from across the payments ecosystem — including Visa and Worldpay — to understand how Click to Pay is closing the gap between in-store ease and online checkout.
The physical-digital gap
"With fraud on the rise, many consumers hesitate at online checkout — especially when shopping with a new or unfamiliar brand," says Sophie Noel, Head of Click to Pay Europe at Visa. The impact is clear: 84% of European consumers have abandoned an online purchase, and 1 in 4 do it regularly.¹
"Around a quarter of EU consumers¹ — or roughly 97 million people² — still manually enter their card details online," she adds. "That just doesn't match up with the smooth, tap-and-go experience we've all gotten used to. If buying something online feels like a chore, people just won't do it," says Noel.
For businesses, checkout is often the make-or-break moment. "If the process doesn't feel smooth and intuitive, customers don't stick around — they move on to a brand that gets it right."
So, it's merchants that are bearing the brunt of the challenge. "Right now, merchants are really struggling with issues like cart abandonment and high fraud rates," says Nabil Manji, SVP, Head of FinTech Growth & Financial Partnerships at Worldpay.
For payment service providers and acquirers, enabling smoother, faster checkouts can have a direct impact on transaction volume and merchant satisfaction.
So where do we go from here?
For Noel, one answer lies in Visa Click to Pay — a solution designed to bring in-store ease to the online world without requiring major changes to how people shop.
"When you see the Click to Pay icon at checkout, it means your saved card details can be retrieved securely, without needing to re-enter them or create a new account," she says. "You simply select the card you want, confirm, and you're done. It feels like autofill, but it's faster and significantly more secure."
Click to Pay is available through the familiar card payment flow, but without the need for customers to fill in their card details. Behind the scenes, it uses tokenization, so the card details are only seen by the shopper and their card provider.
"In the same way we've seen contactless payments revolutionize in-person payments, we're expecting Click to Pay to have a similar impact for online transactions," says Manji.
Friction and risk: tackling the two biggest checkout killers
Click to Pay tackles two of the biggest online payment challenges: cart abandonment and fraud. It speeds up transactions — saving around 20 seconds³ — and reduces friction points.
It also puts security first. Some merchants have seen a 91% drop in fraud compared to traditional card entry 4 — thanks in part to the fact it doesn't share actual card numbers with merchants.
"It also boosts approval outcomes," Noel adds. "Merchants see up to a 10% increase in authorization rates 5 — so more people finish checkout, and more payments get approved."
"When we invest, it's targeted at improving one specific thing: reducing fraud rates, increasing conversion, offering more payment choices or some other benefit," Manji adds. "But the really nice thing about Click to Pay is that we get all of the above through enabling it."
Built to fit in, not shake things up
"Flexibility is critical," says Noel. "We know our partners already have a lot on their plate, so the last thing anyone needs is a complicated integration."
And for Worldpay, that strategy has paid off. "We found implementing Click to Pay to be relatively fast and effortless," says Manji. "A big reason for this was Visa's drop-in UI, which requires minimal coding. Because it complies with EMVCo standards and scales across schemes, it's really seamless for our clients to use across any device or browser."
Collaboration that moves the industry forward
While Visa played a key role, Click to Pay is an industry-wide standard — designed to work across all major card networks, devices, and browsers.
"Banks, merchants, payment providers, and gateways have all played a role," says Noel. "It's a truly collaborative effort — and Visa has been a driving force."
"As I think about the future and what the future of online shopping is going to look like," says Manji, "I think the partnership with Visa and the innovation that we can both drive is really going to be key to improving the lives of merchants and consumers alike."
Learn more about how you can make online payments safer, faster, and more convenient for the ecosystem with Visa Click to Pay.
This post was created by Insider Studios with Visa.
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Sources:
1. Visa/ IPSOS European e-commerce consumer study, Jan-Feb 2025, n=6,000 (UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, PL)
2. The figure of 97 million represents an estimated calculation of 25% of the approximate adult (15+) population of the European Union in 2024 (388.2 million). This estimate is based on publicly available demographic data from Eurosat:
3. IPSOS Consumer research 2023 UK and Spain sample
4. Global Risk Team, Visa Net, CTP Fraud Rates, Oct 24- Feb 25
5. Visa Net, on merchants live with CTP defined by 1 approved auth in Feb 2024 - Feb 2025.