How Kendra Scott transformed payments into a strategy for growth

Kendra Scott’s rapid expansion is a huge success story. But behind the scenes, its payment ecosystem was growing inconsistently.

"We grew with trusted partners through existing relationships," Luedecke explains. "But we weren't being intentional with our payments infrastructure. We had a disconnect between our retail space and our ecommerce space.  These systems were not designed to support a unified omnichannel experience in the back office, with separate token vaults for each environment."

The company relied on multiple payment service providers and separate integrations for ecommerce and in-store payments, each with its own reporting and reconciliation processes. The result was operational complexity. Reporting required pulling data from multiple systems, and reconciliations often took too long. The accounting team was speding valuable time piecing together data across systems to close reconciliation gaps.

At the same time, the business lacked a unified view of how customers pay across channels, limiting its ability to optimize performance and respond to changing customer preferences.

"We stepped back and decided to take a diligent approach to our payments ecosystem and modernize it in a way that would set us up for the future."

When Kendra Scott began an 18-month journey to find a new partner, they initially evaluated both traditional payment providers and orchestration platforms. During the process, it became clear that a more simplified approach would better support their long-term goals.

"I actually thought Adyen was an orchestrator because of all the tools and functionality within the platform," Luedecke recalls. " From an architectural perspective, it’s much better to have one player instead of two integrated players."

Rather than stitching together multiple systems, Kendra Scott chose Adyen’s single platform to unify ecommerce and in-store payments, providing the visibility and flexibility needed to grow.

The decision wasn’t just about replacing infrastructure. It reflected a broader shift in how the business approached payments. For the first time, payments were being evaluated not just as a cost to manage, but as a foundation that could support growth, improve visibility, optimize costs, and enable faster decision-making.

Migrating to Adyen’s single-platform architecture unlocked three major advantages for Kendra Scott:

1. Real-time insights and better decision-making

Historically, the accounting team had limited visibility into transaction-level data and relied heavily on manual processes for reporting and reconciliation.

"We had to make assumptions with lot of manual work to get through reconciliations,” Luedecke explains. "With Adyen we’re able to see information in a different way that allows us be more proactive instead of reactive.”

Now, Kendra Scott has access to richer data across all channels and payment methods. With a unified reporting environment, teams can pull data from a consolidated source rather than multiple providers, improving both speed and accuracy.

What was once a fragmented, manual reconciliation process without consistent identifiers, is now a streamlined, transaction-level view with increased transparency.

Krystal Luedecke

VP of Accounting

This shift has also enabled the team to more accurately track key performance indicators and analyze performance, from authorization and decline rates to cost drivers and payment mix.

2. Agility with alternative payment methods

As customer payment preferences evolve, Kendra Scott needs to be able to quickly adapt to new payment options. Previously, launching new payment methods required separate integrations and ongoing maintenance across multiple providers.

Now, with a single integration, the team can move faster.

"We can leverage Adyen’s integrations to get to market faster," Luedecke explains. "Adyen handles the updates and maintenance, so we can focus on what we’re good at."

This flexibility allows the business to respond quickly to trends like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), meeting customers where they are without adding operational complexity.

3. Operational efficiency and control

The move to a unified platform simplified internal operations across multiple areas.

• Centralized reporting and reconciliation

• Greater visibility into settlements

• Simplified compliance management

• Streamlined terminal management

By consolidating systems and processes, Kendra Scott reduced manual effort and improved overall efficiency. 

The impact on compliance was especially significant. With Adyen’s fully managed tech security and centralized controls, the company reduced its PCI compliance workload by 70%, creating more time for teams to focus on higher-value work, including optimization and strategic planning.

One of the most meaningful shifts for Kendra Scott has been how the business thinks about payments.  With improved visibility across channels, payments are no longer treated as a fixed cost on the P&L. Instead, they are something the business can actively manage and optimize.

Instead of viewing payments as a single percentage of fees against sales, the team is starting to break that number down into its underlying drivers, including volume, rate, and mix. This level of detail makes it possible to forecast more accurately, understand how costs are evolving over time, and identify where adjustments can have the biggest impact.

It also creates a clearer link between payment performance and financial outcomes. For example, capabilities such as routing optimization can now be evaluated not just as technical features, but in terms of how they influence fees and overall cost structure on the P&L.

“We can start to see what’s actually driving our costs and how different levers make an impact,” Luedecke explains. “It gives us the ability to make more informed decisions instead of just accepting payment fees as a fixed expense.”

Just as important, this shift is changing how the Kendra Scott team thinks about payments more broadly.

“It’s transforming not just the technology, but the mindset,” Luedecke adds. “Understanding what makes up that cost, what drives it, and what we can control opens up a lot of opportunity.”

As the team continues to build on these insights, payments are becoming a more active part of financial planning, not just an operational necessity.

Giving back is a core pillar of the Kendra Scott brand, and since 2010, the brand has donated over $70 million to causes supporting women and youth.

As part of their partnership with Adyen, the team is exploring how to bring that mission directly into the checkout experience.

“There’s a natural synergy between Adyen and Kendra Scott in terms of bringing that philanthropy pillar to life,” Luedecke says.

With Adyen Giving embedded into the payment flow, the brand can create new ways for customers to contribute, making each transaction an opportunity to support its broader mission.

Reflecting on their journey, Kendra Scott encourages other retailers to rethink how they approach payments. "Evaluate payments not just as a cost center, but as a strategic growth lever," Luedecke advises. "Ask yourself: Can your partner support your short-term and long-term objectives, such as omnichannel? Do you have visibility into data that allows you to be intentional with strategy? Retailers should consider:

• Whether they have a unified view of payments across channels

• How much manual effort is required for reporting and reconciliation

• Whether they have actionable data to improve performance

• How quickly they can adapt to new payment methods and customer expectations

“Think about where you want to go and whether your payments architecture supports that,” Luedecke adds. “The right partner should help you grow, not slow you down.”