This article synthesizes key points from Gartner’s latest research and provides IXOPAY’s own insights to help you cut through the complexity, see what’s changing, and decide what to do next. It’s not a substitute for the full report, but a practical lens on the forces redefining digital commerce payments today.
Picture this: You’re expanding into two new regions this year. As the digital commerce leader responsible for payments, you’re expected to keep checkout friction low, fraud under control, and acceptance rates high across markets with very different requirements.
One region depends on local wallets. Another mandates strong customer authentication. And neither is fully supported by your current payment provider.
At the same time, fraud pressure is increasing and authorization performance is under the microscope. Your leadership team is asking how quickly you can support AI-driven checkout experiences.
And that’s just the beginning.
Global expansion is forcing multi-vendor payment setups.
Fraud tactics are evolving faster than rules-based controls can keep up.
New payment methods – from real-time bank payments to stablecoins – are reshaping acceptance strategies.
AI agents are on track to initiate a meaningful share of online transactions within this decade.
Against this backdrop, the question isn’t whether payments will get more complex—but how merchants should respond. The takeaways from IXOPAY’s Chief Product Officer, Peter Papaioannou, based on Gartner’s research, focus on the practical actions that matter most right now.
Vendors Differ Significantly in Core Capabilities
Digital commerce payment vendors vary widely in their core capabilities, which can make it challenging for organizations to determine which solutions best align with their needs.
Gartner categorizes vendors into three primary models, each optimized for a different set of trade-offs:
Full-stack platforms simplify contracting and accelerate time to market by bundling gateway, processing, and acquiring. The trade-off is reduced control over routing logic, local acquirer choice, and granular cost optimization.
Multiprocessor-agnostic platforms give you flexibility and resilience across regions by letting you connect multiple acquirers and payment methods behind a single front end. That flexibility comes with added integration effort, operational governance, and internal coordination.
Multiprocessor MoR/SoR models offload compliance, tax, and regulatory complexity by having the vendor act as the merchant or seller of record. In return, you accept less control over pricing structures, transaction data, and long-term customer ownership.
If you’re expanding into markets with mandated authentication or uneven authorization rates, architectural fit will determine whether you can adapt quickly or end up spending months untangling workarounds.
My takeaway?
Choose the platform that aligns with how you want to operate payments in your business, not the one with the longest feature list.
Evolving Fraud Tactics Increase Pressure on Platforms
Fraud isn’t something you can fix once and forget. Every new rule you add to stop abuse has side effects. Stricter velocity checks can flag legitimate customers. Blanket step-up authentication slows down trusted buyers. Tighter thresholds increase false declines.
And at enterprise scale, these trade-offs show up immediately in conversion rates.
You’re expected to block increasingly sophisticated attacks while keeping checkout friction low. That pressure is driving a shift away from static, rules-based controls toward platforms that can assess risk in real time:
AI-driven fraud detection evaluates behavioral, device, and transaction signals dynamically, rather than relying on fixed rules.
Intelligent routing adapts authorization paths based on risk, geography, and payment method.
Risk-based escalation allows low-risk transactions to pass through instantly, while step-up authentication is triggered only when signals justify it.
The result is less friction for good customers and tighter controls for riskier transactions.
For example, a returning customer using a familiar device shouldn’t face the same friction as a first-time buyer coming through a new payment method in a high-risk region. The platforms that can make those distinctions consistently protect revenue on both sides.
The takeaway?
Fraud management is now a continuous optimization problem, not a one-time configuration. The right platform will help you tune that balance as conditions change, rather than locking you into yesterday’s assumptions.
No Single Payment Platform Covers Every Geography
No matter how global a vendor looks on paper, none covers every country, payment method, and regulatory nuance. As soon as you expand, you’re forced into a multi-vendor setup, often earlier than planned.
For example, your North American setup works well on cards. But when you expand into Southeast Asia, conversion might drop because customers expect local wallets and real-time bank payments. You add a regional provider to stay competitive. And overnight, one checkout has become a multi-vendor operation. That’s where the complexity creeps in.
Multiple providers to manage for local wallets, domestic acquiring, or mandated authentication
Fragmented reporting, with reconciliation spread across portals, formats, and settlement cycles
Rising costs, as volumes are diluted across vendors and pricing leverage disappears
Slower change, because every market launch or optimization requires coordination across stacks
Over time, payments become harder to govern, and harder to optimize.
My thoughts?
Multi-vendor payment stacks are a part of payments these days . But consolidating where you can is a must. Fewer platforms mean clearer data, lower overhead, and more control as you scale globally.
This is where payment orchestration can help: a unifying layer that lets you manage multiple providers through a single integration, centralize routing and reporting, and reduce operational drag. All without sacrificing local market performance.
The Rise of Agentic Commerce and AI Agent Payments
Gartner predicts that by 2030, “AI agents will replace 10% of the traditional online check-out interactions on a merchant’s website to make payments for consumer purchases using a credit card (Buckland & Ryan, 2026).”
These agents will initiate payments autonomously using stored credentials and predefined preferences. For example, an agent might:
Reorder household essentials when supplies run low
Book travel based on your calendar and budget rules
Complete a repeat B2B purchase when inventory hits a threshold
The customer never has to review a cart or click “pay.” Friction disappears because checkout is bypassed entirely, with the agent executing purchases only when predefined conditions are met.
To support this, new protocols and trust frameworks are emerging to ensure AI agents are authenticated, permissioned, and auditable before they can initiate a transaction. Card networks, GenAI platforms, and payment providers are all racing to define how agents are registered, tokenized, and governed. But the ecosystem is still forming, and fragmentation is a real risk.
For you, the challenge is timing. Move too late, and you’re scrambling to retrofit controls into a live payment stack. Move too early without the right architecture – complexity and fraud risk escalate.
The takeaway?
Agentic commerce isn’t a future edge case. You need to start planning now, evaluating how your payment platforms will authenticate agents and manage risk as humans gradually step out of the checkout flow.
Stablecoin Payments Are Moving into the Mainstream
Stablecoins are no longer a fringe experiment. Research from the World Economic Forum reports that the total stablecoin transfer volume reached $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing the combined transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard that year.
That headline number doesn’t mean every merchant needs to accept stablecoins tomorrow. But it does signal a shift in how value is moving globally, and what your payments stack may soon be expected to support.
Growing transaction volume and wallet expectations: Stablecoins are increasingly used for cross-border value transfer, especially where card fees, FX spreads, or settlement delays hurt margins. As adoption grows, you’ll be expected to accept stablecoins from any major wallet, not just one proprietary ecosystem.
Early-stage, but real vendor momentum: Platforms are adding stablecoin acceptance via digital wallets, stablecoin-linked cards, or “pay by bank” extensions. Some are even issuing their own coins. That means support may appear in your platform roadmap before your business teams ask for it.
Operational upside, with caveats: In theory, stablecoins can reduce cross-border costs and speed settlement. In practice, you still need to think about reconciliation, custody, regulatory exposure, and how refunds or disputes work when the payment isn’t card-based.
The takeaway?
Stablecoins aren’t a must-have today, but they are a strategic watch area. You don’t need to launch them now, but you do need a payment platform that won’t block you when the business case becomes real.
Concluding Note
If you’re responsible for payments, the pressure is practical and immediate:
Expanding without breaking checkout
Stopping fraud without killing conversion
Adding new payment types without piling on vendors
Gartner’s message is clear. You’ll be managing multiple providers, adaptive fraud controls, and new flows like AI-initiated payments, whether you plan for them or not.
So what can you do about it?
Choose payment platforms that match your operating model, give you visibility across markets, and let you optimize continuously as volumes shift. Use this lens to assess where your current stack will strain next.
Review the full Gartner Market Guide for vendor-level capabilities, trade-offs, and fit before making your next platform decision.
Source: Buckland, D., & Ryan, P. (2026, January 12). Market guide for digital commerce payment platforms (Gartner Research ID G00784069). Gartner.
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