Visa has significantly expanded its reach into the digital payment industry.
Visa's digital wallet service, V.me, is adding more than 50 financial institutions, including PNC, U.S. Bank, BBVA/Compass and BB&T. This increases Visa's potential base of cardholders to 55 million. Visa hopes these banks push V.me to their customers.
Twenty-three online retailers, such as Buy.com. 1-800-flowers and MovieTickets.com, now offer V.me as a payment option at check out. V.me works on a smartphone, PC or tablet.
Digital wallets like V.me make online check-out faster, thus decreasing shopping cart abandonment. Instead of entering a long credit card number and shipping address, customers enter an email and password and the shipping information is automatically filled in.
Visa's digital wallet service competes with MasterCard's PayPass, American Express' Serve, Google Wallet and PayPal.
A complete list of financial institutions and retailers offering V.me can be found here.
