Visa Checkout and Williams-Sonoma Savor Summer With Shoppable Videos

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Visa Inc. and Williams-Sonoma today announced that Visa Checkout, the online check out service that Visa launched less than a year ago, is now live online at Williams-Sonoma, America's leader in high-quality cookware and tools, electrics and entertaining essentials. With Visa Checkout, Williams-Sonoma customers now have a fast, easy and secure way to pay online.

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To provide inspiration as the summer cooking season gets underway, Williams-Sonoma and Visa Checkout have launched a four-part video series called "Time to Savor Summer." The videos will use a new technology from YouTube that makes them "shoppable" - allowing viewers to buy showcased products quickly and easily by clicking directly from the video. Visa Checkout, with Williams-Sonoma, will be one of the first brands to use this YouTube technology to make a video shoppable. The videos were created in partnership with Tastemade, a global food lifestyle network for digital platforms, and hand-selected influencers who will offer tips and must-have products for hosting the ultimate summer parties.

The first video, West Coast Cantina with Megan Mitchell, is now live online. Three additional thematic videos will follow later this summer, each hosted by different "Tastemakers":

• Southern BBQ with Claire Thomas, self-taught chef, blogger, and commercial video director. She began writing about food on her blog, The Kitschy Kitchen. Her philosophy is to "live deliciously."
• East Coast Clambake with Andy Allen, Masterchef Australia 2012 winner and author of The Next Element.
• Backyard Bonfires with Shawn Thomas, host of Tastemade series Local Flight. He was nominated by the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) as "Best Pre-Recorded Host."

Through Visa Checkout, Williams-Sonoma online customers can purchase everything they need within the videos to recreate the perfect party at home, all with just a few clicks. A new report¹ from comScore² found that Visa Checkout shoppers convert to online buyers at a rate of nearly 70 percent and that enrolled Visa Checkout customers were 66 percent more likely to complete a transaction than customers who must enter billing and card information in the traditional online checkout path.

"We're bringing a whole new meaning to instant gratification," said Sam Shrauger, Visa's senior vice president of digital solutions. "With Williams-Sonoma and Visa Checkout, if you see it and want it, we can help you buy it, quickly and easily, so you can focus instead on creating delicious food and making great summer memories."

President of Williams-Sonoma, Janet Hayes adds, "Williams-Sonoma makes summer entertaining inspirational and easy, so getting together can be all about fun, friends and food. The hosted videos show customers how to create memorable experiences in their own kitchen or backyard. Our partnership with Visa Checkout gives time back to our customers, so they can enjoy these moments even more."

As part of the partnership, Williams-Sonoma is offering customers $10 off their next www.Williams-Sonoma.com purchase of $100 or more when they pay with Visa Checkout now through July 31, 2015^*.

Visa Checkout: The Easier Way to Check Out

Visa Checkout is an online service from Visa that allows consumers to securely store their shipping and payment information without having to re-enter the information when shopping online. With Visa Checkout, consumers can simply enter their username and password, and click a button to complete the purchase.

Since its launch less than a year ago, more than four million customers have signed up for Visa Checkout accounts. More than 125,000 large and small merchants and 260 financial institution partners now offer Visa Checkout globally. These represent some of the biggest retailers on the internet, including: Staples, Rakuten, Neiman Marcus, Gap, Pizza Hut, Orbitz, and Virgin America.

Visa Checkout will be available in 16 markets by the end of 2015. These include: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

¹Visa's comScore study: Visa Checkout, The Right Choice for Online Retailers, March 2015.

²comScore, Inc. SCOR is a global leader in digital measurement and analytics, delivering insights on web, mobile and TV consumer behavior that enable clients to maximize the value of their digital investments. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

^*Offer valid through 7/31/15 or while supplies last. Limit one per customer. Terms and conditions apply.

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 47,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products.

About Williams-Sonoma

Since its founding by Chuck Williams in 1956, the Williams-Sonoma brand has been bringing people together around food. A member of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. WSM portfolio of brands, Williams-Sonoma is a leading specialty retailer of high-quality products for the kitchen and home, providing world-class service and an engaging customer experience. Products include cookware, cooks' tools, cutlery, electrics, bakeware, food, tabletop and bar, outdoor, cookbooks, as well as furniture, lighting and decorative accessories. Each store has a professional demonstration kitchen for cooking classes and tastings conducted by expert culinary staff. Williams-Sonoma Cooking Schools, located in select locations in the U.S. and Australia, offer hands-on classes led by professional chefs. A comprehensive gift registry program for weddings and other special events is available in stores and online. On williams-sonoma.com and the Williams-Sonoma blog, Taste, customers can find recipes, tips, and techniques that help them create delicious meals and wonderful memories.

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