Digital Transformation Shows Retail Store Payment Preferences Split by Geography

New research found payment innovation is seen as increasingly critical to long-term retail store growth.

Introducing new and better payment choices for their customers is the key driver of internal innovation strategies among some of the largest U.K. and U.S.-based retailers. That’s according to “Navigating Big Retail’s Digital Shift: The New Payments Strategy Evolution,” a 2022 PYMNTS report.

Many retailers said the current suite of digital solutions they have on offer is simply not enough to meet the fast-evolving expectations of their customers around frictionless payment experiences.

Having multiple digital payment options was seen by 89% of retail executives as necessary to customer retention and business growth.

Choice Is More Than a ‘Nice to Have’

Larger non-grocery retailers with at least 50 store locations were most likely to say they were implementing expanded in-store payment options, with 65% reporting they planned to add more methods. Fifty-five percent of grocery retailers agreed, as did 56% of convenience stores.

Modernization is key to survival. While certain payment advances are being widely adopted across the retail industry, findings from PYMNTS’ report showed that which innovations to offer at checkout may vary depending on where retailers do business.

Seven in 10 retail executives said they believe that preferences for specific conveniences can lead customers to favor one retailer over another, but the in-store checkout experience is increasingly becoming an important touch point to get right in order to accelerate shopper loyalty.

While popular digital innovations like real-time payments, app-based scan-and-go functions, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) are embraced across geographies by consumers and merchants alike, payment platforms like Venmo and Zelle are more common in the United States than the United Kingdom.

In the U.K. moreover, loyalty cards are seen as a much more attractive way to win shopper loyalty than in the U.S., which doesn’t view them as necessary to improving the payment experience. More than one in every three U.K. retailers plans to add loyalty card options at checkout, compared to zero in 10 U.S. retailers.

Emergent payment options like cryptocurrencies are popular in both retail environments, with one in five large U.S. merchants and one in five big U.K. retailers planning to integrate crypto functionality in the next three years.

For a deeper dive into the value-add digital payment capabilities big retail is counting on to meet the evolving needs of their consumers, download the free 2022 PYMNTS playbook, “Navigating Big Retail’s Digital Shift.”

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