Digital transformation has been a major theme in retail in recent years. When asked about their top priorities for the next three years, 21% of businesses reported the adoption of technologies that improve the customer experience, and 35% of retailers plan to invest in connecting backend systems to payments.

The current macroeconomic climate has only increased the importance of digitalisation. As retailers around the world hold their breaths, there are steps you can take to prepare your business to weather whatever storm may come.

Optimising your payments should be high on the list of operational optimisations. If you set up your systems and connect payments to the rest of your operations, payments have the power to become a revenue driver rather than a commodity.

Connecting online and in-person payments at scale

Brick and mortar is making a comeback. 67% of retailers globally expect more revenue to come from physical stores, while 75% of retailers expect revenue from online channels to increase as well.

Offering premium payments online and in-person requires your payment providers to have specific expertise for each channel across regions.

Online payments need to be secure, fit into the checkout flow seamlessly, support local payment methods, and fail as little as possible. In-person payments, on the other hand, require terminals that match your business needs and architecture and need to support multiple languages.

Finding a payments platform that can offer both is difficult, especially since most are dependent on the financial technology of others to power their solutions. So, it's unsurprising that retailers have relied on multiple solutions.

Illustration of two people carrying a piece of furniture from an online store to their living room.

Reduce friction for your customer

Running online and in-person payments on separate platforms creates friction for your customer. It makes it nearly impossible to deliver the elevated shopping experience consumers have come to expect. 61% of shoppers said they'd be more loyal to retailers who let them buy products online and return them in store.

Missing the boat on creating unified shopping experiences isn't a luxury you can afford. As shoppers continue to navigate journeys across channels, they will choose to shop with brands that can give them the flexibility they want.

Optimise operations and efficiency

A patchwork of systems requires your employees to smoothen the seams continuously. Multiple providers mean multiple points of failure, and managing different payment providers means managing payments in different places.

If you consolidate multiple payment providers into one platform solution, you free up time and let employees focus on doing their job instead of having to troubleshoot continuously.

Especially for enterprise retailers that have operations across borders, dealing with local parties will reduce agility. Onboarding and rolling out solutions takes time, so if a single global provider can help you create extraordinary shopping experiences in one place, they can quickly replicate them elsewhere.

An illustration of a box with a storefront with retail purchases popping out.

Improve performance with a modern fintech stack

Technology is constantly evolving, yet innovation within the financial sector has lagged behind. Since most payment providers still rely on financial institutions to offer their services, there's only so much control they have to create innovative solutions.

One of the biggest advantages of our single financial technology platform is that retailers get access to the full power of our technology with our API. Since we love building and innovating as much as retailers that are shaping the industry, our solutions are built in a way that gives retailers autonomy in choosing what fits their business and architecture.

Another advantage is our global coverage. Because we support payments across the globe, there's no need to go through costly RFPs and onboarding of payment providers wherever you have a presence. Instead, businesses can simply opt in or out of whatever region or country they want.

Reduce complexity and create a unified shopping experience

Since there are few payment providers that have the in-house tech stack to support a unified cross-channel setup, it's not surprising that many retailers have created a semi-integrated system of providers for online and in-person payments.

With our single financial technology platform, fragmented systems that are prone to error, increased latency, and complicated payments consolidation are now a thing of the past.

Read more about current trends in retail in our [Retail Report](https://www.adyen.com/en_AU/index-reports). Are you convinced? Be sure to [contact sales](https://www.adyen.com/en_AU/contact/sales).

Streamline operations and offer a unified shopper experience

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