5 payment strategies retailers can use in 2025

It’s important for retailers in clothing, luxury fashion, jewellry, art, and cosmetics to create consistent, convenient, and flexible shopping experiences. 

The retailers we spoke to all agree on one thing: personalising the shopping journey to improve customer satisfaction and boost in-store conversion. 

Here’s three ways to accomplish this:  

#1: Serve customers anywhere with mobile payment solutions

Payments play a central role in the customer experience. 

With innovations such as mobile terminals, employees can accept payments from customers anywhere in the store, eliminating long queues.

Lush, a cosmetics brand, introduced mobile point of sale (mPOS) terminals in its stores to enhance the customer experience and increase efficiency:

''From our perspective, we’ve noticed a significant shift in the in-store customer experience. Traditional counter terminals are being replaced with mobile solutions, allowing us to engage with customers directly where they are, eliminate queues, and transform our service approach.''

Adam Goswell

Tech R&D Principal - Lush

#2: Roll out your customers’ preferred payment methods at scale 

Another critical aspect of personalised experiences is offering customers their preferred payment method. 

Allowing people to pay with their most-used methods makes shopping more seamless and can boost conversion rates.

''Now, we offer every payment method you can think of, including international options like Alipay in the UK. This is important because we have many tourists and people from abroad who want the payment methods they’re used to.''

Mike West

Finance Director - Lush Digital

And adding new payment options doesn’t have to be difficult. 

Adyen’s Terminal API lets retailers turn on payment methods with the flip of a switch, without additional integrations, and in all stores at once.

AllSaints, a leading fashion retailer, used this capability to add new payment methods and streamline payment offerings across its locations. 

With Adyen serving as both acquirer and payment processor, the process was simple — eliminating the need to coordinate with multiple providers.

''Whether turning on Apple Pay or integrating Clearpay, it's almost like a tick-box exercise. Adyen makes it easy and efficient to expand our payment options without the complexity.''

SJ Grabiec

Global Head of Customer Experience - AllSaints

#3: Offer flexible cross-channel experiences with a unified solution

Consumers want flexibility, and retailers are adapting. 

Thanks to technology like endless aisle and ship-to-store, going “out of stock” is no longer a problem.

For example, if a product isn’t available in-store, consumers can still buy it in-store and have it shipped to their homes. 

IC Group, owner of Peak Performance, uses integrated technology to offer flexible experiences:

''If an item is not available in your store but is in a neighboring one, you may redirect your consumers to that store. Though when there are no other stores nearby, the endless aisle is the perfect way to satisfy your consumers.''

Henri Legentil

IT Omnichannel Consultant - IC Group

For home, furniture, garden, pet care, sports, and electronic retailers, efficiency and speed is the name of the game. 

Shoppers want quick and convenient experiences without long waits. 

Here’s how the retailers we spoke to are tackling it: 

#1: Create faster checkout experiences

Three words: unattended self-checkouts. 

These kiosks speed up payments, allowing customers to pay without waiting in line. 

Jula, a Swedish home and garden retailer, recognises the importance of speed and is introducing technology to support it:

''It should go really quick. They shouldn’t need to stand in line or have a conversation with the cashier if they don't want to. They should just be able to pay and get out. For the future, we’d like to see mobile POS so they don't have to go to the exit to pay.''

Erica Mattsson

IT Operations Lead - Jula

#2: Rely on stable payments that work every time

Retailers with high transaction volumes, extensive product offerings, and diverse customer bases face unique challenges. 

To ensure smooth operations at scale, they need robust payment solutions that are not only efficient but secure and highly scalable. 

Northern Tool, a home and garden retailer, achieved this by upgrading its entire payment system with Adyen’s unified commerce solution. 

Implementing advanced POS terminals with over-the-air updates ensures seamless transactions and reduces the risk of losing sales due to payment issues:

''Payments have to work. We want to ensure our operations run smoothly and be a dependable partner to peers in accounting, offering easily usable information and avoiding reconciliation issues.''

Lisa Cordes

Finance Director - Northern Tool

Innovation is about more than just meeting customer expectations. It's about exceeding them. 

In today's dynamic retail environment, businesses must keep up with rising customer expectations by adopting the latest payment technologies and improving the shopping experience. 

Adyen’s unified platform helps retailers lead the way, offering smooth, secure, and personalised shopping across every touchpoint.

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