A new era for payments in APAC: Beyond omnichannel to frictionless commerce

In APAC, the adoption of contactless payments is surging, with consumers preferring to tap and pay, due to speed, convenience, and security over other payment methods. 

One example is Siam Commercial Bank’s Tap-To-Pay initiative in Thailand. Visa Acceptance Solutions is enabling SMB and micro merchants to offer contactless payment acceptance using mobile devices, eliminating the need for cumbersome EDC machines. 

While contactless payments in-store are rapidly growing, Click to Pay can help streamline and simplify customers’ online journeys. Click to Pay helps maximize conversion rates for merchants, boosting authorizations by 2.5%¹ and reduced fraud by 58% with the use of tokens.² Read more about how ZA Bank has enabled Click to Pay with Visa.

Invisible payments are the pinnacle of frictionless commerce, where transactions occur seamlessly in the background. Using tokenization and biometric authentication, invisible payments offer greater convenience and security. The benefits for businesses include:

• Enhanced customer experience: The need for physical interaction is eliminated, making the payment process virtually invisible.
• Increased efficiency: Transaction time and operational costs can be vastly reduced.
• Higher security: Advanced technologies ensure that sensitive information is protected.
   

Most common example of invisible payments is from ride-hailing companies such as Grab and Uber, which provide seamless booking, real-time tracking, and cashless payments. Users can store their credit or debit cards so that ride costs are automatically deducted after each trip without the need for them to enter card details or process payments. Tokenization ensures that card details are never exposed, reducing the risk of fraud and streamlining compliance with security standards. This means users can grab a ride get to where they need to go without any payment hassles.

Unified commerce is about merging online and offline payment channels into a single, cohesive system. This provides businesses with a holistic view of their transactions so they can make informed decisions and improve customer experiences. Some of the key benefits include:

• Increased efficiency: A unified system simplifies transaction management and reduces the complexity of handling multiple payment channels.
• Data insights: Access to comprehensive data allows for better analysis and decision-making.
• Customer loyalty: A seamless payment experience and personalised service promote customer loyalty and repeat business.
   

Hospitality businesses have been using unified commerce effectively by integrating all their sales channels—online, mobile, and in-person—into a single platform. This enables hotels, restaurants, and resorts to manage reservations, payments, inventory, and guest profiles seamlessly across all these touchpoints. 

For guests, unified commerce delivers a consistent experience whether they’re booking a room online, ordering room service via an app, or paying at the front desk. Behind the scenes, unified commerce streamlines all these processes to boost guest satisfaction and empowers hospitality businesses to quickly adapt and innovate.

Pay-by-palm is next-gen payment technology that uses a customer’s unique palm signatures to verify their identity, a significant leap from today’s widely used fingerprint and facial recognition systems. Visitors to the Visa innovation centre in Singapore can hover their palm over a reader to link it to their payment card. 

While still in the early stages of adoption, pay-by-palm is already making waves in urban mobility in China. We’ve partnered with Tencent to introduce its palm recognition technology for digital payments. There are plans for the service to be rolled out in Singapore by Visa for cardholders from participating banks like DBS, OCBC, and UOB. 

From reimagining how we tap to transforming digital identity and flexible payments, Visa and its partners are not just imagining the future of commerce — we’re building it. The progress we’ve made this past year is just the beginning.

Visa Intelligent Commerce is a groundbreaking initiative set to transform how we shop and pay. Soon, millions of people will turn to AI agents to find the perfect sweater, plan their next vacation, or check off their grocery lists. This suite of integrated APIs empowers developers to securely deploy AI-powered commerce at scale, unlocking more seamless and personalized shopping experiences.

Visa Accept, another new initiative, allows small merchants in emerging markets to accept card payments with their mobile phones through any participating banking app. It’s affordable, easy to use, and fast. We’re harnessing AI and the latest technology to empower consumers, businesses, and our partners to collectively drive the next chapter of commerce. 

As the payments landscape evolves, transitioning to frictionless commerce is crucial for businesses to stay competitive. The future of commerce is not just about keeping up with technology; it’s about being proactively driving change focused on customers to deliver a great experience. Start your journey to frictionless payments now—it’s what will truly define the commerce leaders of tomorrow.