Retail in the UK has embraced digital innovation – from websites and mobile apps to smart kiosks and even augmented‑reality mirrors reshaping the high street. But behind these advances lies a surprising weak spot: payments.
While stores innovate non-stop in customer experience, I’ve seen many continue to rely on outdated, disconnected payment setups – systems that only work via app, terminal, or wallet, and don’t communicate with each other. This fragmentation creates real friction for customers and chaos for finance and operations functions at these businesses.
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 severe operational strain behind the scenes.
Finance teams scramble to reconcile online and in-store revenue, often manually; risk teams lack a complete view of fraud across channels; marketing teams struggle to connect the dots between campaigns and conversions; and executives are forced to make strategic decisions based on partial, siloed data.
This isn’t just a technical challenge – it’s a barrier to business clarity, performance, 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 technology is redefining how payments are accepted. Smartphones and tablets can now function as secure NFC terminals. Analysts project that the global value of Soft-POS transactions will rise from $23.9 billion in 2025 to $540 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, digital wallets are gaining ground fast. According to eMarketer, over 50% of UK adults use PayPal, and nearly 30% use Apple Pay, both online and in stores.
That’s not just preference – it’s an imperative. These options must be integrated 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 provider, they had no choice but to work with their web development agency to identify vulnerabilities and block the attacks. It was a costly and stressful ordeal that highlighted just how critical a secure, unified payments setup really is.
In short, this isn’t just a backend win. When systems are connected, store associates can complete transactions without friction. Finance teams can report with confidence. Fraud analysts can respond to threats in real time. Executives gain a clear view of performance, and customers enjoy the kind of seamless, personalized experience 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 already exist – rooted in real-world examples, not vendor hype.
Fragmented payments don’t just slow things down—they erode trust. Unified systems restore confidence, sharpen decision-making, and unlock growth, from the first click to the final till. Giving payments a strategic seat at the table is no longer optional. It’s essential.
We list the best mobile payment apps.
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