Barclaycard Payments has deployed Visa’s Unified Checkout solution, giving its UK merchant customers a single integration for payment acceptance.
Following this announcement, merchants will be able to access a range of payment capabilities through one connection, as the deployment is meant to simplify payment acceptance and support ecommerce conversion. The agreement builds on a relationship between the two companies that spans six decades of joint work across payments and acceptance.
Payment options available through Smartpay Fuse
Through the integration, merchants can offer customers cards, Click to Pay, and digital wallets. They can also use additional payment experiences such as Pay by Link and invoicing. The solution includes built-in value-added services alongside these payment methods.
Bringing these options into a single integration is intended to let merchants create more consistent customer journeys across payment channels. It is also intended to reduce friction at checkout. Merchants would otherwise have to manage these options separately.
Unified Checkout is a low-code solution. Merchants can therefore add new payment capabilities without committing significant development resources. At the same time, the solution has a modular, API-driven architecture, which Visa says lets merchants adapt their checkout as customer preferences change.
Dan Parsons, Head of Value Added Services, Visa UK & Ireland, said the aim is to make it easier for merchants to adopt new payment capabilities without rebuilding their checkout each time. Visa positions Unified Checkout as a tool for acquirers and their merchants. The official said the collaboration with Barclaycard Payments is designed to give merchants access to new capabilities as they become available.
Implications for merchants and acquirers
The deployment reflects a model in which a card network supplies checkout technology and an acquirer distributes it to merchants through its own gateway. For Barclaycard Payments, embedding Unified Checkout in Smartpay Fuse adds to its gateway’s payment options without requiring merchants to integrate each method individually.
Ben Stagg, Head of Mid-Corporate, Barclaycard Payments, said that a wider choice of payment methods generally benefits businesses, but can become difficult for growing businesses to manage. At the same time, the process of integrating Unified Checkout into Smartpay Fuse streamlines payment acceptance through one integration, while this approach is expected to strengthen security, improve visibility, and adapt to changing customer expectations.
The company presents the move as part of its role as a partner supporting merchant growth. Combining multiple payment experiences in one solution is expected to help businesses simplify their customer journeys and spend less effort managing separate payment integrations.
