FRAMINGHAM (02/03/2000) - Discover Financial Services has launched a virtual credit card called Discover DeskShop, which provides cardmembers with a drag-and-drop mechanism for online shopping as well as one-click access to real-time account information.
"We've provided cardmembers with a simple tool for online shopping and account management functions," said Colleen Zambole, vice president of e-commerce at the Discover Financial unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
The card, launched today, is stored as an icon on a PC's desktop. It's powered by Trintech Group PLC's PayGate NetIssuer technology. Consumer information is protected by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. That information is further protected because cardholders must enter personal identification numbers when they use the DeskShop virtual card.
According to Zambole, the virtual credit card offers several benefits. First, it saves time by eliminating the need to complete every merchant's payment page. For example, an online shopper only has to fill in the DeskShop information form once. Then he can drag and drop the card, which contains the stored information, to an online merchant's check-out page, where the card will complete the check-out form.
In addition, customers can access the Discover Card Account Center through Discover DeskShop to check their transactions, get real-time account information and pay their bills online.
Zambole said Discover is targeting its 1 million cardmembers who already shop online, as well as its 47 million cardmembers who shop at brick-and-mortar stores. She said 300 merchants have signed up to accept the virtual credit card.
In order to use the DeskShop virtual credit card, people must register at Discover's Web site, then download the DeskShop software, which installs Discover Card icons onto the user's computer. These icons serve as shortcuts for starting the Discover DeskShop virtual credit card.
Merchants don't need any special software in order to accept the DeskShop virtual credit card, said John McGuire, CEO of Trintech, which is based in California and Ireland.
"This doesn't require a merchant to do anything," he said. "We wanted this to be zero-touch for the merchants.
While the ultimate goal of the virtual credit card is to make online shopping easier, analysts said the downloading process, which takes about six clicks and four minutes to complete, might discourage some people, especially first-time online buyers.
"The more steps a consumer has to go through, the less likely they are to stick around for all of the download," said Emily Meehan, an e-commerce analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston. "What compels them is what they get at the end.
This type of approach might be great for frequent online shoppers who want the convenience of not having to fill out forms every time," said Meehan. But Internet newbies "may not be willing to stick around (for the entire download)," she added. "The company should probably be targeting frequent shoppers."
Laurie Orlov, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., also said she doesn't think most people will be patient enough to download the software.
"Consumers are not inclined to download software," said Orlov. "If it only takes one click to do it, maybe. But if it takes a series of clicks and they have to click this and click that and then click their heels together three times, they'll forget why they got there in the first place."
The virtual card currently only works with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. The program will be compatible with other browsers in the future. The online version of the plastic Discover Card, DeskShop works on Windows 95, 98 and NT. A Macintosh version will be available in the future.
Discover DeskShop fully supports the Electronic Commerce Modeling Language (ECML) standard, a format that contains common data fields for collecting standardized customer and credit information across merchants' Web sites.
However, the card will also work at most non-ECML shop sites as well.