The future of commerce is being shaped by the rapid evolution of online shopping and digital payments. In a recent webinar titled "Unlocking Merchant Growth: Building a Payment Roadmap for Success", industry experts came together to discuss the importance of a strategic payment roadmap in today's competitive market landscape. The session, co-hosted with Payments Dive and IXOPAY, provided insights into how merchants can navigate economic uncertainty, price sensitivity, and rising operational costs through thoughtful payment strategies. Here’s a detailed recap of the session. Or, feel free to watch the full replay.
Why It’s Time to Rethink Payment Strategy
The rapid evolution of digital payments over the last five years has transformed the way consumers interact with businesses. With global ecommerce and in-store payments projected to reach over $91 trillion in the next five years—and a significant share conducted via digital wallets—the importance of modernizing and optimizing payments is clear.
At the same time, economic uncertainty, rising operational costs, and increased price sensitivity among consumers are creating significant pressure on merchants. Many have invested in upgrading their payment infrastructure but lack a clear, strategic approach to realize the full potential of these investments.
A well-designed payments strategy can serve as a critical lever in improving customer experience, reducing costs, and unlocking growth opportunities. This involves viewing payments not just as a backend function, but as a dynamic and integral part of business planning.
Strategic Planning: A Business Imperative
One key takeaway for businesses is the need to regularly evaluate and evolve their payments strategy. Rather than relying indefinitely on legacy systems or single-provider solutions, organizations benefit from reassessing their approach as they grow and scale.
For example, a business managing dozens of payment service providers (PSPs) across global markets might find itself overwhelmed by complexity, lack of transparency, and inefficiency. Consolidating this ecosystem into a centralized orchestration platform can streamline operations, reduce manual workloads, and provide unified, real-time data access—enabling more strategic decision-making.
The core idea is simple: the best time to invest in payments strategy may have been years ago, but the second-best time is now.
Introducing the Payment Maturity Model
To support businesses in evaluating and improving their payments strategy, the concept of a Payment Maturity Model provides a useful framework. This model outlines how a business’s payment stack typically evolves, from a basic configuration to a sophisticated, data-driven orchestration system.
The three general stages include:
Bundled PSP Model: A single provider handles all payment services. This is often the starting point for smaller or early-stage businesses.
Hybrid Model: The business begins integrating additional tools or PSPs while maintaining a core provider, often to test capabilities or prepare for expansion.
Orchestrated Model: Payments are managed through a dedicated orchestration layer that allows flexibility, data analysis, and modular integrations with various PSPs and value-added services.
This model is not meant to be prescriptive but rather a lens through which merchants can assess their current setup and make informed decisions about the future. Every business's trajectory is different, but all can benefit from understanding where they are—and where they want to go.
The Central Role of Data
At the heart of a successful payment strategy is data. Without access to reliable and timely data, merchants face an uphill battle when trying to measure success, test performance, or forecast costs.
Key areas where data makes an impact include:
Analyzing authorization rates across different PSPs or geographies
Forecasting transaction costs and optimizing for margin
Identifying performance bottlenecks in cross-border payments
Running A/B tests with payment processors to improve success rates
Payments data should not be siloed or inaccessible. Instead, businesses must demand transparency and control, ensuring that their systems empower them with actionable insights.
Payments Strategy as a Growth Catalyst
Developing a payments roadmap is not reserved for large enterprises or cross-border operations. Businesses of all sizes — from early-stage startups to scaling companies — face challenges and opportunities where payments play a decisive role.
For smaller companies, the focus may be on quick go-to-market strategies and understanding customer behavior. As the business matures, emphasis often shifts to improving margins, entering new markets, or complying with regulatory requirements — all areas where payments can either support or hinder progress.
Regardless of size or sector, every merchant benefits from approaching payments with a mindset of strategic planning, adaptability, and future readiness.
Final Thoughts
Payments are no longer a passive part of doing business. They are a strategic asset that can directly influence growth, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. By leveraging tools like the Payment Maturity Model and investing in data-driven infrastructure, merchants can transform their payments stack into a competitive advantage.
The journey from reactive to proactive payments doesn’t happen overnight — but with intentional planning and the right partners, it’s a journey that pays dividends across every area of the business.