For many Italian businesses that sell online, the challenge is not just attracting visitors to their website, but converting them into customers. In fact, a significant portion of purchases is interrupted during checkout due to overly lengthy procedures, the need to manually enter card information, or additional authentication steps.

To reduce this friction, a growing number of companies are adopting card tokenization and passkeys. These technologies speed up the checkout flow and strengthen security, while also improving user experience. Together, they are laying the groundwork for a new era of ecommerce, where artificial intelligence (AI)–powered agents will be able to place orders on behalf of users in a secure manner.

This article explains how card tokenization and passkeys work, what roles tools such as Click to Pay and Link, a digital wallet by Stripe play, and what Italian merchants can do today to prepare for the future of digital payments.

Key takeaways

• Cart abandonment occurs primarily during checkout. Lowering the required steps to complete payment can improve conversion rates without increasing site traffic.
  
• Tokenization replaces sensitive card data with secure digital identifiers. This approach improves security, decreases the risk of declines caused by outdated credentials, and supports higher authorization rates.
  
• Passkeys make it possible to authenticate users using biometrics or device credentials, eliminating many of the challenges associated with passwords and one-time passwords (OTPs) and simplifying the payment experience.
  
• Solutions such as Stripe Payments, Stripe’s payment circuit tokens, and Link allow merchants to adopt these technologies without having to develop complex proprietary infrastructure.
  
• The same capabilities that currently reduce cart abandonment are a core component of agentic commerce and future purchases made by AI-based agents.
  

The problem of cart abandonment in Italian ecommerce

Cart abandonment remains one of the main challenges for ecommerce worldwide. According to the Baymard Institute, the average abandonment rate exceeds 70%, meaning that more than 7 out of 10 purchases end before checkout.

Abandonment does not necessarily reflect a lack of interest in the product. In many cases, users have already decided to place an order and proceed all the way to the final checkout stage. It’s precisely at that moment that obstacles to conversion might arise.

The most common causes include:

• Excessively lengthy checkout processes
  
• Mandatory account creation
  
• Manual entry of card details
  
• Unintuitive authentication procedures
  
• Technical problems or errors during payment
  

For Italian merchants, this trend takes on greater significance given the rise in shopping via smartphones. On mobile devices, each additional field to fill out increases the risk that the customer will leave the process.

For years, many optimization strategies have focused on user interface design or on lowering the number of steps required to complete a transaction. Today, attention is shifting toward the payment infrastructure itself, including card tokenization and new authentication technologies.

Below is a comparison between traditional and enhanced checkout using tokenization, passkeys, and saved credentials:

What is tokenization, and what does it actually mean for a merchant?

Card tokenization is the process by which a card number is replaced with a unique digital identifier, called a token.

From the end user’s perspective, little changes: customers continue to use their cards as usual. Behind the scenes, the card number is replaced with a token for processing subsequent transactions, helping protect sensitive information and simplify repeat purchases.

For a merchant, the advantages go beyond just security. This approach helps:

• Simplify subsequent orders
  
• Reduce friction at checkout
  
• Improve continuity of recurring payments
  
• Decrease the risk associated with managing payment credentials
  

What is network tokenization and why is it important?

When discussing tokenization, people often tend to view all tokens as equivalent. In fact, there are differences between traditional payment tokens and network tokens, and understanding them helps explain why card tokenization can affect checkout performance.

What are payment tokens and how do they work?

Traditional payment tokens are generally created by the provider that manages the transaction infrastructure. When a customer saves their card, the actual number is replaced by a digital identifier that can be used to process later transactions.

This approach improves security by reducing the need to store or transmit card data. However, the token remains separate from the card’s lifecycle.

Network tokenization, and how does it impact payment authorization rates?

Network tokenization uses circuit tokens issued directly by payment networks, such as Visa and Mastercard. Unlike traditional payment tokens, they maintain a closer link to the associated card.

When a card is replaced due to expiration, renewal, or loss, the token can be automatically updated, with no action required from the account holder.

Without this mechanism, the customer would have to manually update their payment information, which might cause them to exit checkout. For a business, every declined charge can result in avoidable revenue loss. That is why circuit tokens are playing an increasingly important role in modern payment infrastructures.

How does Stripe’s network tokenization automatically improve authorization rates?

For many companies, implementing network tokenization directly would require integration with various payment networks and ongoing management of credential updates. Stripe Payments simplifies this setup with circuit tokens, enabling merchants to benefit from the technology instead of building dedicated infrastructure.

Stripe Payments uses network tokenization, which replaces card credentials with identifiers issued directly by the payment networks. This operation takes place behind the scenes and requires no action on the customer’s part.

The benefits of network tokenization go beyond merely simplifying the payment process. Thanks to their direct connection to payment networks, Stripe’s network tokens offer several benefits:

• Greater security: The actual card details are replaced by digital credentials, reducing the exposure of sensitive information and the risks associated with managing it.

• Automatic credentials update: When a card is replaced, renewed, or modified, the token can be updated automatically, lowering the risk that a transaction will be declined due to invalid details.

• Improved payment authorization rates: Tokens can provide payment networks with more reliable and up-to-date transaction information, increasing the likelihood that a charge will be approved on the first attempt.

• Reduction in lost sales: Fewer declined payments lead to fewer interruptions in the purchasing process and a lower likelihood of losing revenue due to issues with card credentials.

These benefits are particularly valuable for companies that manage subscriptions, recurring payments, or high volumes of repeat purchases, where modest improvements in authorization rates can significantly impact revenue.

What are passkeys and why are they replacing OTPs and passwords in payment flows?

For years, online authentication has relied primarily on passwords and, more recently, on temporary codes sent via text message or authentication apps. Although these tools have helped improve security, they can also create friction in the buying journey.

A few extra verification steps can increase the risk of cart abandonment. Passkeys for online payments are designed specifically to address this issue. They allow users to verify their identity through familiar methods, such as biometrics or the device’s PIN.

Compared to traditional authentication methods, passkeys offer several advantages:

• A simpler experience: Users don’t have to remember complex passwords or enter codes received via text message.
  
• Greater speed: Authentication takes place directly on the device used for the purchase, reducing the required actions to complete payment.
  
• Greater security: Since there is no password to steal or reuse, the risk of phishing and compromised credentials is lowered.
  
• Less friction at checkout: By removing some of the main obstacles in the final stages of the order, passkeys can help reduce cart abandonment.
  

Click to Pay in Italy: How it works and what opportunities it offers

Imagine a shopper placing an order on an ecommerce website. At a traditional checkout, they must enter their card number, expiration date, security code, and, often, their billing address. With Click to Pay, however, they can finish the transaction with a previously registered card, eliminating the need to reenter those fields.

Click to Pay is a standard developed by major payment rails, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, to simplify online transactions. The goal is to provide a more consistent journey across different websites, allowing users to use their stored credentials in a similar way to how they would with a digital wallet.

From the customer’s perspective, the process is simple. After being authenticated with their email address or other information associated with their Click to Pay account, they can select a card already on file and complete the purchase without manually reentering their payment details.

Advantages of Click to Pay for customers

For users, Click to Pay reduces the need to enter card details repeatedly and speeds up checkout, especially on smartphones.

Also, the experience remains relatively consistent across different websites that support Click to Pay, eliminating the need to repeat the same actions with each order.

Advantages of Click to Pay for merchants

For merchants, a simpler checkout flow helps limit incomplete carts and improve conversion rates by providing a smoother buying journey, particularly in mobile commerce.

Click to Pay in Italy: Prospects for Italian merchants

Click to Pay is a standard promoted by the major payment circuits to simplify online checkout. Although its adoption continues to grow thanks to the support of banks, payment networks, and payment service providers, its potential lies primarily in decreasing the actions needed to complete an online purchase.

In a context where mobile shopping continues to rise, and customers expect increasingly faster payment experiences, tools such as Click to Pay can help make checkout easier and more immediate.

How does Link use stored credentials to enable one-click payments?

One of the most effective ways to refine checkout is to prevent customers from having to reenter the same details. Link has been designed specifically for this purpose.

When a customer uses Link for the first time, they can choose to save payment details and required checkout fields. These credentials can then be reused across all merchants that support Link.

After completing an initial purchase with Link, they can make subsequent payments in a few clicks with no need to fill out lengthy forms again or retrieve account details.

For merchants, the benefits are twofold:

• On the one hand, the time needed to complete a purchase is reduced
  
• On the other hand, some of the main friction points that contribute to unfinished carts are eliminated
  

How does Link reduce cart abandonment?

Link reduces cart abandonment by removing most manual tasks during checkout. As customers can use previously saved information, the transaction flow requires fewer steps and takes less time. By lessening friction in the final ordering stages, the likelihood of completing the order increases.

The connection with agentic commerce: Why these technologies enable autonomous purchases by agents

The discussion about tokenization and passkeys goes beyond today’s checkout process; it also concerns how purchases might be made in the coming years.

A growing number of companies are exploring the potential of AI-powered agents—systems that perform tasks on behalf of users based on predefined instructions and authorizations.

Why AI agents need tokenized credentials

In agentic commerce, AI agents could perform tasks such as comparing products, finding deals, and completing orders on behalf of users. To do this securely, they need payment and authentication tools that do not require direct access to sensitive data.

With card tokenization, you can use secure digital credentials instead of actual card details, while passkeys offer more modern methods to verify user identity and manage consent for operations.

Combined, these capabilities form one of the technical foundations that could make agentic commerce possible on a large scale. For merchants, adopting these solutions today delivers two benefits: improving the current checkout flow and preparing infrastructure for AI-driven purchasing models in the years ahead.

What Italian merchants can do today: A practical guide to adoption

To take advantage of tokenization and passkeys, there is no need to redesign the payment infrastructure completely. In most cases, adoption begins with a few targeted interventions:

Short-term interventions

Companies can achieve tangible results by implementing a mobile-enhanced checkout, using a payment platform that supports card tokenization, and enabling tools such as Link to simplify repeat purchases.

It’s also worth keeping a close eye on the authorization rate to identify potential opportunities for optimization.

How to prepare for agentic commerce

The adoption of circuit tokenization, passkeys, and tools that reduce checkout friction can be a first step toward infrastructure compatible with future AI-powered ordering experiences.

More generally, merchants in Italy need to view checkout not as a mere operational step, but as a strategic lever that directly impacts conversions, revenue, and the company’s ability to adopt future innovations in digital payments.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.
  
• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.
  
• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.
  
• Improve payments performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.
  
• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.
  

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.