'Net Features : Visa

Microlending with Kiva & Visa in Your Town

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:42:00 GMT

Microlending website Kiva and payments provider Visa announced a program that will provide microloans to small businesses in U.S. cities with the greatest need.

According to the official announcement, the Kiva City program “aims to spur job growth and economic recovery by connecting Kiva’s global network of 592,000 individual lenders with the owners of small businesses throughout the country”.

The Kiva City program will launch today in Detroit which ranked fifth in the study’s list of U.S. small business trouble reports. In addition to Detroit, several other regions including Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Orlando, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Providence, and Milwaukee are also able to join the network.

“Since launching in the U.S. two years ago, we have worked with our partners to replicate our successful global model, empowering each and every American to help our economy by adding as little as $25 to a small business owner’s loan,” said Premal Shah, co-founder of Kiva.org. “But as our study shows, the needs in the U.S. are widespread and many regions simply don’t have microfinance institutions operating at scale. Now, spurred by Visa’s commitment to small business, we are able to expand our reach and, as a result, open new avenues of capital for small business owners across the country.”

According to a new study commissioned by Kiva and Visa, the Economist Intelligence Unit, 20 of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas have lost at least one percent of their small businesses from 2006 to 2008 - representing approximately 15,000 businesses.

Visa, MasterCard Jockeying for Mobile Payments Position

Linc Wonham — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Two of the largest global credit card companies made separate moves toward wireless payment solutions, further proof that mobile payment processing continues to be one of the biggest developments in recent e-commerce memory.

Visa, the world’s largest payment processor, announced a partnership with Bank of America in which the two companies are launching a test program that will allow customers to use their smartphones to pay for in-store purchases starting in September and running through the end of the year. Visa is set to launch a similar pilot program in partnership with U.S. Bancorp beginning in October.

Earlier in the week, MasterCard announced its $520 million acquisition of European payment service provider DataCash, a deal that is scheduled to close in October. DataCash processed nearly a quarter of a billion e-commerce transactions in 2009, and the move improves MasterCard’s position to compete in the mobile and micropayments e-commerce markets.

The developing wireless payments space is projected to become more than a $633 billion industry by 2014, and these two payments processing frontrunners are racing one another to create new forms of payment for increasingly mobile consumers. The best strategy for e-commerce merchants right now is to closely monitor each development and to put themselves in the best possible position to accept these new payment products with minimal integration challenges.

Streamlined Shopping with Visa Rightcliq

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:58:00 GMT

Visa today launched an online shopping tool that aims to improve the way consumers browse and compare products, checkout on merchant websites and track packages.

The offering, dubbed Rightcliq™, was developed to relieve the “frustration points” consumers experience while shopping online. According to a recent Visa survey, half of all online shoppers rely on inconvenient methods – like bookmarking and written lists – to track items they are interested in buying, but not yet ready to purchase. More than 90 percent said they would do more online shopping if they had an easy way to compare items and see available merchant discounts and promotions.

Rightcliq is actually a downloadable plugin that gives consumers the ability to add products to their Wishspace™ (a visual wish lists for collecting, organizing, and sharing products they are considering purchasing), purchase with a digital wallet (the plug-in lets consumers auto-fill personal, payment and shipping information), and track the shipping status of packages.

“At Visa, we know consumers love to shop online, but they also want better ways to streamline the experience and eliminate some of the frustrations they encounter in the process,” said Gerry Sweeney, global head of ecommerce and authentication, Visa Inc.

“Rightcliq is unique in the marketplace, as it adds value across the whole shopping experience and offers the convenience and peace of mind consumers expect from Visa,” Sweeney said. “We think people will find Rightcliq not only helps them make smarter shopping decisions, but also makes online shopping simpler and more fun.”

Visa Rolls Out New Online Payment Service

Linc Wonham — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Launched today in Australia, Visa’s new online transaction service is aimed at making it easier for teenagers to purchase their favorite music, games and movies on the Web. A pre-paid “payclick” account can be funded from any Visa, MasterCard or bank account and used for online transactions similar to the way many consumers currently use PayPal.

It is a major addition to the micropayment processing space, which focuses on online transactions under $20, and targets the sector of the buying community under the age of 18. Visa’s new service was developed and launched in Australia, where it is estimated that nearly $650 million of online micropayments will occur in 2010 across the gaming, music and bargain retail sectors.

There is no integration yet with PayPal, and payclick accounts have to be “sponsored” by a parent in order for children under 18 to use them. The service started today in Australia with businesses such as BigPond Games and BigPond Music, Apple’s iTunes and Habbo offering the payclick option.

On the merchant side, payclick does not require the e-commerce site to store any personal details or financial information. Although it is initially focused on digital content, Visa has indicated that the service can also be used for goods.