Online and mobile payments platform Braintree has launched Venmo Touch today, a service that allows consumers to complete a transaction across a variety of apps with just one touch.
The feature has been built in partnership with Venmo, a company which Braintree acquired last year, to try to provide a much smoother and familiar checkout experience.
It works by storing the consumer’s credit card details whenever they complete a transaction using an app tied to the Braintree network. The user is then asked if they would like to “save the card with Venmo”, and if the user approves it, all other apps in the Braintree network will then offer an identical one touch payment method.
All of this is designed to help merchants capitalize on every moment when a consumer thinks about making an in-app purchase. If the payment method offered by businesses has too many forms or webpages to fill out, the chances of the user just cancelling the transaction completely is increased.
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“Each time a user downloads a new app, the user needs to re-enter payment information, creating frustration for users and a huge obstacle in the user sign-up process for apps,” Bill Ready, CEO of Braintree said. “Venmo Touch lets you store payment information once and then use it across multiple apps without requiring users to sign-up or download a separate app. This makes the payment and sign-up process much easier.”
The company is releasing Venmo Touch as a private beta today for a select number of Braintree clients. Some of its most prolific merchants, such as HotelTonight, TaskRabbit and Wrapp, will be introducing the feature to consumers “over the coming weeks.”
It’s worth noting that Braintree already supports repeat purchases by storing consumers’ basic payment information for future use at that particular merchant. Venmo Touch takes it one step further by storing the users’ credit card information too, and widening the one touch payment method to any merchant on the network.
Braintree claims to be the fastest growing payment platform for online and mobile businesses. The firm has raised at least $70 million to date, and accepts more than 130 currencies in over 30 countries.
The company, which offers businesses a secure payment gateway, recurring billing, and credit card storage, as well as an easy-to-integrate API, also announced last November that it planned to hire new staff and open a sales office in Australia during “early 2013”.
Image Credit: PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA/AFP/Getty Images
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