The global subscription market is on a steady rise, expected to reach a staggering $406B by 2025, according to an update covering the payments landscape.
As the trend of consumers subscribing to services in sectors “such as retail, food and more increases, so does the challenge of managing their payments.”
Recognizing this, Visa (NYSE: V), an enabler of digital payments, announced the launch of Subscription Manager, a new, all-in-one service “for financial institutions to provide Visa cardholders with a simple, convenient way to track their subscriptions, all from the palm of their hands.”
In the era of subscription overload, consumers “are grappling with the complexities of managing multiple subscriptions across a web of apps.”
Navigating through each platform’s unique terms can potentially “lead to unnoticed charges, even after a subscription is cancelled.”
Visa’s new Subscription Manager streamlines key aspects of recurring payments in one place, allowing cardholders “to see where their card details are stored, view which recurring payments are attributed to their card, and stop recurring payments.”
Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, global head of Issuing Solutions at Visa said:
“Managing subscriptions can often feel like a maze, with consumers sometimes feeling trapped in a cycle of confusing charges. Our goal is to make this process simpler and ensure cardholders know exactly where their money is going, and when.”
As consumer expectations for seamless, secure digital payments grow, it’s crucial for issuers to keep pace.
A forthcoming Visa report supports this trend, revealing “that 63% of surveyed consumers are comfortable with a future that relies entirely on digital money.”
The rapid introduction of new digital financial tools and services “is propelling this shift, with consumers increasingly turning to apps and mobile wallets to manage their finances.”
The same report also found that “over half of the consumers surveyed have adopted the use of mobile wallets in just the past year.”
Subscription Manager is reportedly “the newest addition to Visa’s Digital Enablement product suite, a comprehensive set of tools and flexible solutions aimed to help issuers offer better digital experiences for their cardholders.”
The new solution supports Visa’s ongoing efforts “to increase transparency and control in the subscription economy, building on initiatives such as its 2020 mandate that requires merchants to obtain cardholder consent after free trials or introductory promotions before initiating billing.”
Subscription Manager is currently “in pilot in select regions.”
