The connected ecosystem goes beyond promise to reality when every element of our digital lives is easily accessible, easily retrieved and used.
Invoice readypresident of commerce at Google, told Karen Webster that making digital credentials more secure on the free and open web—along with improved payment functionality—allows consumers and merchants to fully participate in all online and offline activities. line.
This fluidity between brick and mortar and online transactions – if done right – can increase conversions for merchants if they have secure one-click “push button” payment experiences built into the point of sale. .
Also read: 30% of high street businesses plan to add digital wallet payments
The preparation is there as the physical wallet gives way to the digital phone wallet, a container and a microcosm of who we are and what we do. Our phones also host the apps and products and services we use to conduct an increasing part of our daily lives. It is essential to keep these distant offers in one place.
Digital IDs in the digital wallet
To that end, Google said Wednesday (May 11) that its new Google Wallet, initially available on Android, will standardize how consumers access everything from payment cards, digital tickets and even vaccine cards.
The wallet thus becomes a storehouse of digital credentials – a passport to online transactions, you might say – and access. Google Pay (GPay) and cards and a range of applications merge at the point of interaction between the consumer and the mobile device.
As Ready said, “We separate the Google Wallet app from the other apps so you have your wallet as a ‘store’ for credentials.”
This store is designed to hold digital versions of tickets and IDs; the Pay application, available in more than 40 countries, is linked to peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and payment cards can be added and subtracted at will when Google Pay (GPay) is added to the wallet.
And as noted, the announcement is initially for Android, but according to Ready, Google is aiming for cross-platform capability. For commerce, tethering the wallet to GPay will be a game-changer, especially at the physical payment point. GPay is already on the iPhone and Chrome as a browser on the iPhone signals Google’s cross-platform intent (about 7% of iOS users use Chrome as their primary browser).
Virtual card numbers
“Push-button buying is a necessity,” he told Webster. “But many of these businesses would tell you that they still have a significant portion – if not the majority – of their cashiers entering card data. These companies are therefore missing out on higher conversion rates. The commerce ecosystem is also missing out on reducing fraud incidents and avoiding false positives of a tokenized push-button shopping experience.
Ready noted that not all merchants have push button functionality in place. But many merchants don’t have the technical know-how to add and embed the buttons on their own.
And: as push-button buying has become a necessity, it also has associated costs – namely, where many digital wallets will take a cut of the transaction (and push-button trading is more expensive than standard card acceptance as providers charge merchants or take interchange cuts). GPay did not take a share of the transaction and will continue to not take a share of the transaction, he said.
The company is introducing virtual card numbers to Chrome, where Autofill is already helping users complete transactions by securely storing their card numbers and automatically filling them into payment forms.
The virtual card feature allows users to convert their cards into virtual tokenized versions – and avoid having to enter the CVV. Chrome is the first browser to support VCN without installing any additional extensions or software. Consumers can sign up for virtual cards when saving payment information in Chrome for the first time or after making an online purchase.
“Now every merchant, regardless of sophistication, has access to a push-button shopping experience when a user is on Chrome, without the merchant having to do any new onboarding work,” said declared Ready. GPay, he said, works on merchants’ existing checkout with their existing processors and acquirers – and across all of their existing payment agreements (including, in the future, BNPL).
Looking ahead, he said virtual cards will roll out this summer in the US for Visa, American Express and all Capital One and Mastercard cards later this year.
He said we are moving towards standardized one-click payment, with better user authentication and security, solving user adoption and merchant adoption friction.
And as the connected ecosystem comes to life, well beyond the boundaries of payments but towards the wallet as the catalyst for the digitalization of everyday existence:
Users share only the credentials they want and choose the applications in which they share those credentials. The user who has a transport card linked to his digital wallet can link this card to Google Maps, where he can see the card balance.
When planning a route in Maps, they can choose to ‘top up’ their card, using saved payment credentials (or redeeming promotions or loyalty offers along the way when they reach their destinations) .
It’s the connected ecosystem that comes to life, he said, linking online and offline activities into a seamless continuum.
“We see these initiatives as significant first steps,” Ready told Webster, “towards much more than we intend to do, both around digital credentials on the wallet side, as well as making easier and safer transactions on the entire open web.”
See also: International B2B virtual card payments market expected to reach $553 billion by 2024
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NEW PYMNTS DATA: THE TRUTH ABOUT BNPL AND STORED CARDS – APRIL 2022
On: Shoppers who have store cards use them for 87% of all eligible purchases – but that doesn’t mean retailers should start buy now, pay later (BNPL) options at checkout. The Truth About BNPL and Store Cards, a collaboration between PYMNTS and PayPal, surveys 2,161 consumers to find out why providing both BNPL and Store Cards is key to helping merchants maximize conversion.
