It’s an emerging wakeup call for a retail sector increasingly buffeted by tariffs and macro uncertainty: payments are now a key part of both customer journeys and merchant growth strategies.
Traditionally, payments were seen as a cost center by retailers — necessary, but commoditized. Retailers worked with a patchwork of acquirers, point-of-sale systems, online gateways and fraud tools, each commonly operating in isolation. Integration was often cumbersome. Data commonly lived in silos. As a result, the customer experience suffered.
But as consumer behavior shifted, accelerated by the pandemic and reinforced by digital-native expectations, so has the role of payments. Today’s shoppers expect to start a purchase on one channel and finish it on another, pay with a method of their choice and receive loyalty rewards instantly.
Meeting these expectations can require more than just functional payment acceptance. It might demand real-time orchestration across every touchpoint.
Enter: payment platformization, which is reshaping omnichannel commerce.
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Payment platformization refers to the emergence of cloud-based, application programming interface (API)-first payment infrastructure that unifies payment acceptance, processing, orchestration, fraud prevention, analytics and value-added services into a cohesive system. Rather than stitching together disparate vendors, retailers can now integrate once with a platform that acts as a central nervous system for payments.
Read more: Payments Orchestrators Become Open Payment Platforms to Improve eCommerce Efficiency
The End of Payments as a Utility
Retailers that once struggled to unify customer journeys across stores, mobile apps, websites and social platforms are now turning to payment platforms as a strategic linchpin. These platforms are enabling retailers to deliver the frictionless, personalized and flexible experiences modern consumers demand — while optimizing back-end complexity in the process.
“What we are seeing is more companies who are not traditionally in financial services themselves see the value of bringing financial context and financial elements to their existing relationships with their buyers, with their sellers, with consumers, with small and medium enterprises,” Marcin Glogowski, senior vice president, managing director of Europe and U.K. CEO at Marqeta, told PYMNTS.
The structural transition is enabling businesses to integrate loyalty programs, reduce fraud, improve transaction approval rates and expand checkout flexibility. It also aligns with the adoption of real-time analytics and machine learning, as retailers seek to control more of the payments stack.
Maverick Payments Vice President of Product Justin Downey told PYMNTS this spring that merchants now “want a one-stop shop for everything.”
“Payment processors are expanding into areas that are close to payments, but not exactly payments — like embedded finance,” Downey said.
These embedded solutions, like buy now, pay later (BNPL), digital wallets and branded payment cards, have become standard features in major retail environments. These tools are often delivered via FinTech partnerships and are increasingly managed through centralized platforms.
See also: Halftime 2025: Charting the Future of Payments
The Strategic Value of Data Unification
Beyond operational efficiency, one of the most powerful benefits of payment platformization is data unification. When every payment — whether from an in-store tap or an Instagram shop link — is processed through the same system, retailers can gain a consolidated view of customer behavior.
Fraud detection has also improved as retailers aggregate behavioral and transaction data. Unlike traditional systems that rely on static rules, AI-powered engines can learn from cross-channel activity and flag anomalies with more precision, helping protect retailers from losses.
The platformization trend is not limited to consumer-facing payments. B2B and operational finance are also being restructured using APIs and embedded systems. Retailers can adopt platform-based tools for supplier payments, expense management and even payroll.
Payment orchestration providers are increasingly offering invoicing, reconciliation and treasury tools that integrate directly into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. These integrations can allow finance teams to centralize cash flow data and reduce manual intervention.
Despite the benefits, the move to platformized payments is not without complications. Integration can be complex, particularly for multinational retailers with fragmented IT systems and compliance obligations across jurisdictions.
Legacy infrastructure may still play a role, especially in-store systems tied to hardware. Migrating to cloud-based point-of-sale terminals and ensuring redundancy across channels can take months of planning and vendor coordination.
At the same time, merchants with platformized payments can frequently find themselves realizing better unit economics through higher conversion, lower fraud and reduced back-office overhead. For high-volume retailers, even small improvements in authorization rates or checkout completion can translate into millions in incremental revenue.
