E-commerce is thriving, but online payments still lag behind in-person experiences

Online spend is up 13.8% year-on-year,¹ with more than 450 million people actively shopping online across Europe.² Despite this growth, the online payment experience still falls short:

Up to 6 % lower authorization rates for card-not-present (CNP) transactions³

Up to 8 % higher fraud rates online vs. in-person⁴

Over 20 % of CNP transactions still rely on manual card entry, slowing conversion and frustrating users⁵

Introducing Visa e-commerce experience

Visa e-commerce experience (Vee) is our strategic vision for the future of digital commerce – closing the gap between online and in-person payments.
 
Tokens are the foundation of this strategy – helping to reduce fraud, improve consistency and boost performance across every channel. More than half of European payments are already tokenized, but our goal is to reach 100%.⁶

Tokenization can deliver benefits across the whole ecosystem

Merchants

  • Better checkout experiences
  • Higher conversion rates
  • Lower operational costs
  • More satisfied customers

Acquirers

  • Stronger fraud protection
  • Lower operational burden
  • Better transaction security

Issuers

  • Higher authorization rates
  • Reduced card replacement needs
  • Richer data and insight
  • Greater consumer trust
  • Increased top-of-wallet retention

Consumers

  • Faster, smoother payments
  • Fewer declines
  • Greater confidence and security

Tokens are already delivering proven results

Visa Token Service (VTS) is the foundation of all things tokens at Visa and it’s already driving real impact in authorization and fraud rates.

Up to 5 % increase in authorization rates⁷

Up to 50 % reduction in fraud⁷

And it’s only getting better

As part of Vee, we’re evolving VTS to unlock even more value from tokenization — improving data sharing, strengthening authorization decisions, reducing fraud, and expanding usage across new payment use cases. The result? Higher approvals and a more consistent, secure payment experience.

CASE STUDY

The Great Belt Bridge

Visa and Frisbii used network tokens and auto-updating credentials to power simple toll payments and eliminate queues on Denmark’s busiest bridge.

One platform to manage every token: Visa Token Management Service (TMS)

Most online businesses already use payment tokenization to protect customers’ sensitive card data. But managing tokens from multiple networks and channels can be complex. TMS gives acquirers and merchants more control. It lets you manage, monitor and optimise Visa Network Tokens across every channel and partner – all from one central place.

Get tokenized today

Standardise and simplify tokenization across channels, providers, and payment types today.

If you’re a merchant, please speak to your acquirer to find out if they can enable tokens for your business.

Get started
1. European e-commerce revenue, Statista, October 2024
2. Evolution in Europe: Market Trends and Consumer Behavior 2023-2027. Evalueserve.
3. VisaNet data CNP auth data compared to CP transactions Jan 24 to Dec 24 (Europe)
4. Visa CNP fraud data compared to CP transactions Sep 23 to Aug 24 (Europe)
5. VisaNet Data: CNP Percent of Manual Card Entry in Europe by authorization count in CY 2024
6. Visa Europe Acquired CNP transactions in October – December 2024
7. Tokens vs PAN. VisaNet Data up to December 2024.