Retail within the UK has embraced digital innovation – from web sites and cell apps to smart kiosks and even augmented‑actuality mirrors reshaping the excessive road. But behind these advances lies a stunning weak spot: funds.
While shops innovate continuous in buyer expertise, I’ve seen many proceed to depend on outdated, disconnected cost setups – methods that solely work by way of app, terminal, or pockets, and don’t talk with one another. This fragmentation creates actual friction for patrons and chaos for finance and operations features at these companies.
To understand how far behind this puts retailers, consider this: in 2023, UK consumers made 18.3 billion contactless payments, up from 6.6 billion in 2018. That’s nearly 40% of all payments. And about a third of adults now tap their phone or card monthly.
The way people pay has changed – but many retail systems haven’t caught up.
Where it breaks down: click-and-collect
One of the clearest signs of this disconnect is the click-and-collect phenomenon. Anyone in retail will know it’s a hugely popular service – eMarketer reports that 64% of UK retailers offer it, and 15% of online orders are now picked up in-store, nearly double the pre-pandemic levels.
Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) is known to boost both footfall and basket size. But here’s the thing: when payments aren’t integrated across channels, this convenience starts to crumble. Staff often can’t verify transactions at pickup. Queues build. Trust erodes. The promise of frictionless shopping disappears.
It’s not just customers – back-office teams feel it too
Fragmented payments don’t only hurt the customer experience. They create extreme operational pressure behind the scenes.
Finance groups scramble to reconcile on-line and in-store income, usually manually; danger groups lack an entire view of fraud throughout channels; marketing groups wrestle to attach the dots between campaigns and conversions; and executives are compelled to make strategic selections primarily based on partial, siloed information.
This isn’t only a technical problem – it’s a barrier to enterprise readability, efficiency, and agility.
There’s momentum for change
Fortunately, momentum is building for smarter, more unified payment systems.
The UK’s financial infrastructure is modernizing. The Bank of England, in collaboration with HM Treasury and the FCA, has established the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board to overhaul the Faster Payments system. Their goal is to enable instant account-to-account (A2A) payments at checkout, reducing reliance on card networks like Visa and Mastercard, and lowering transaction fees.
At the same time, Soft-POS system know-how is redefining how funds are accepted. Smartphones and tablets can now operate as safe NFC terminals. Analysts mission that the worldwide worth of Soft-POS transactions will rise from $23.9 billion in 2025 to $540 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, digital wallets are gaining floor quick. According to eMarketer, over 50% of UK adults use PayPal, and practically 30% use Apple Pay, each on-line and in shops.
That’s not simply choice – it’s an crucial. These choices should be built-in seamlessly, not embedded as afterthoughts.
Unified payments drive trust and growth
A unified payment system is more than efficient – it’s powerful. In 2022, UK retailers lost approximately £1.2 billion to payment fraud. Global losses are projected to exceed $107 billion by 2029. Fragmented systems make it easier for bad actors to exploit weaknesses – testing stolen cards online, picking them up in-store, and vanishing before systems catch up.
But when payment channels are connected, fraud detection becomes faster, more accurate, and more actionable. Real-time insights enable teams to flag suspicious behavior and prevent fraud before it occurs. That kind of visibility can protect revenue, safeguard customers, and strengthen brand trust.
Tangible results for retailers
The impact of unified payments is already visible among retailers who’ve taken action. Failed pickups are dropping. Dispute volumes are shrinking. Financial close processes are becoming faster and more accurate. In-store teams are reporting smoother workflows, and marketing teams can finally track the ROI of campaigns with clarity.
For example, before we started working with retailer Nemesis Now, they were facing serious challenges. Getaway attacks had become a regular threat – fake orders and fraudulent refunds were causing a real disruption, with teams working overtime to fend off thousands of malicious requests.
With little urgency from their previous payment gateway supplier, they’d no alternative however to work with their net growth company to determine vulnerabilities and block the assaults. It was a expensive and anxious ordeal that highlighted simply how important a safe, unified funds setup actually is.
In brief, this isn’t only a backend win. When methods are linked, retailer associates can full transactions with out friction. Finance groups can report with confidence. Fraud analysts can reply to threats in actual time. Executives acquire a transparent view of efficiency, and clients benefit from the sort of seamless, personalised expertise that drives loyalty.
The stakes are high – and the moment is now
With contactless transactions now accounting for 38% of UK payments and cash still representing around 12%, retailers need to support a range of preferences securely and responsibly. The regulatory environment is also evolving, with PSD3, APP reimbursement requirements, and emerging technologies such as dark stores and real-time loyalty systems prompting retailers to reassess their payment infrastructure.
According to Gartner, those who treat payments as a strategic capability – rather than just a technical one – gain significant advantages in fraud resilience, agility, and customer retention. In today’s environment, those differences can define who leads and who lags.
From fragmentation to strategy
For retailers ready to move, there’s no need to start from scratch. Playbooks, integration frameworks, and benchmarks exist already – rooted in real-world examples, not vendor hype.
Fragmented funds don’t simply sluggish issues down—they erode belief. Unified methods restore confidence, sharpen decision-making, and unlock development, from the primary click on to the ultimate until. Giving funds a strategic seat on the desk is now not elective. It’s important.
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