Skipify’s Shrauger on Moving Past Wallets to Digital Identity as Payment Credentials

Consumers want what they want, how they want it. Consequently, when it comes to payments and commerce, businesses that can adapt to their needs and offer convenient ways to pay are best positioned to win in the long run.

Case in point: digital wallets. The concept has been central to this evolution toward offering convenience both for consumers and merchants. Yet, despite the proliferation of wallets and payment solutions, friction in the checkout process remains a significant challenge. That’s what Sam Shrauger, Skipify’s newly appointed chief operating officer, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in a conversation unpacking the ways that the integration of payment credentials and identity can improve the checkout experience.

“The whole wallet thing has been going on for a while, and it’s time for something new,” Shrauger said, noting that Skipify — a payment infrastructure solution provider — uses the email alias on merchant sites to initiate a one-click checkout, using existing payment workflows.

It’s simplicity seems hard to wrap one’s head around at first blush. In fact, it almost sounds too easy. Online shoppers fill their carts, and when ready to checkout, they enter their email address to log in as they always do. At that point, they will be presented with all of the cards from issuers linked to that email address. Consumers pick the card they’d like to use from that list and via a Skipify integration, the transaction then follows the traditional merchant workflow.

“[The shopper] just enters their email address, and all of a sudden their payment cards are available,” Shrauger said. “We’re now at a point in time where the technologies have come together [to make this experience possible].”

For merchants, it is an alternative to adding multiple buttons (and integrations) on a checkout page to support new flows for settlement, refunds and disputes. It also puts payment choice in the hands of the consumer, not the merchant, whose options for choice are limited to what’s on their page. It also helps merchants maintain their direct relationship with the consumer without the wallet intermediary. By choosing not to position itself as a master merchant or intermediary, Skipify eliminates the additional layers of fees that typically come with wallet transactions. This results in better margins for merchants while maintaining the security and convenience that consumers expect, Shrauger said.

The ‘No Wallet’ Seamless Checkout Experience

Schrauger said using the consumer’s email address is Skipify’s secret sauce, making it the identity proxy to access payments credentials registered to that email. That, Shrauger said, becomes the key to unlocking a seamless payment experience. The consumer then authenticates the transaction with a one-time password. This approach eliminates the need for data entry, or to remember multiple account logins or carry physical cards, leveraging tokenization and cryptography to provide a frictionless and secure payment process.

Read more: Skipify Names Airbnb and PayPal Vets to Top Exec Roles

“The merchant doesn’t have to then re-architect their payment systems to be able to take in the information and process the transaction,” he told Webster.

Currently focused on online transactions, Skipify aims to expand its reach to physical points of sale. Shrauger acknowledged the importance of being relevant across all purchasing contexts, recognizing that consumers still conduct many transactions in physical stores. The ultimate goal, he said, is to provide a seamless payment experience, whether online or offline, leveraging the same principles of digital identity and tokenization.

“I think we have honed in on a very solid strategy,” Shrauger said. “We’re at the point in time where we have our sights set on what we want to do. And now it’s all about execution.”