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A new Visa card is rolling out in stores this week. And the card’s new rules could cause big changes to the online shopping world.

Beginning Feb. 1, credit card holders will no longer be able to buy goods from merchants that don’t accept Visa or MasterCard cards, including Walmart, Target and Staples.

The card, which lets consumers pay with the credit card they want, was created in 2009 as a competitor to debit cards. But the card has been the victim of frequent security breaches and has suffered from a perception among many customers that the card is used to buy more items than it should.

Visa and MasterCard say merchants, not consumers, will benefit from the new rules. Merchants don’t need to switch to accept the new card. They just need to switch from paying with cash or credit.

There are two main reasons for the rise in merchants that still use cash or credit, according to Scott Keogh, the chief executive of the Payment Methods Association, a trade group. One is that the payment methods used by card companies are still more expensive than the alternatives. The other is that cash is more portable than credit cards, he said. Card companies also argue that merchants’ payments will be safer as they will be under the control of the card companies.

“I’m not opposed to the idea of having the ability to make the payment with a card,” said Bhatia, whose group has an advisory role with MasterCard, Visa Inc. and Discover Financial Services. He noted that merchants’ credit card processing fees are also higher than those paid by a merchant’s bank, which is why many businesses choose to accept the debit cards.

Bhatia and other card companies insist that merchants will have to change their ways, including making payments online.