There’s never been a more exciting time in the world of payments. Innovation is happening at breakneck speed, open banking is tearing down data silos and partnerships are forming between traditional financial institutions and fintechs on a global scale. Whether you’re a global retail chain, ecommerce brand, or online marketplace, changes in the payment landscape will have a profound impact on your business.
Here are six important trends you can’t afford to ignore:
1. BNPL, Alternative Payment Methods Are Quickly Displacing Cash and Cards
While credit cards and cash are still the dominant payment method in many regions, digital payments are quickly capturing market share. For instance, digital wallets are expected to account for more than $25 trillion, or 50% of all online and point-of-sale transactions, by 2027.
The global BNPL market, led by companies like Klarna, Afterpay, PayPal and Affirm, is meanwhile projected to grow from $560.1 billion in 2025 to $911.8 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 10.2%
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While card- and cash-based transactions aren’t going away, merchants will certainly need to plan for a future in which consumers in certain markets prefer to use alternative payment methods (APMs) to make purchases in-store or online.
2. Biometrics and Tokenization are Taking Over
As the risk and cost of fraud continues to rise, businesses are facing a reckoning: embrace higher standards for payment security or risk losing your customers’ trust. One way that the payment industry is tackling this issue is through advanced payment security measures like tokenization and biometric authentication — both of which combine advanced digital security with added convenience for the end user.
78% of merchants currently enable network or payment tokens, replacing sensitive data with a digital representation (token) that protects that data. That percentage is expected to increase, but many businesses still struggle with implementing tokenization across their entire payment stack. Biometric authentication — through facial recognition, fingerprint ID or retinal scans — are becoming increasingly common, as are digital “passkeys” that replace passwords and multi-factor authentication.
Adoption of both payment innovations will continue to accelerate with more regulatory oversight and as technology makes them easier to implement and manage.
3. The Consumerization of B2B Payments Has Arrived
While consumers have been the primary focus of payment innovation in recent years, businesses also are demanding the same level of fast, frictionless and secure transactions. Paper checks, invoices, ACH and wire transfers are being replaced by more intricate B2B payment frameworks that can help cut costs and increase efficiency.
Global payouts, for instance, are ripe for disruption, as they represent a core part of a modern business. Facilitating faster payments to vendors, suppliers and customers can not only help businesses save time and money but also improve relationships with their more important business partners.
Similarly, businesses are increasingly looking for solutions to help simplify routine payment processes like reconciliation, reporting and payment routing — all of which require considerable resources.
4. The Relevance of Payment Orchestration Continues to Increase
While payment orchestration was once a purely technical tool designed to help businesses integrate multiple payment providers, it is quickly evolving into an important part of revenue growth. 84% of businesses leveraging payment orchestration have said it led to a better customer experience, while 76% said it improved customer acquisition.
Most importantly, payment orchestration is helping businesses stay ahead of changes within the payment landscape, whether that’s integrating new payment methods, optimizing routing across regions and providers, tackling false declines and payment fraud or implementing the latest payments technology.
5. Payments Fragmentation Means Localization is the Key to Global Expansion
The payments landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented, as payment method preference and usage varies widely by geography. The digital wallets and real-time payment apps used by U.S. consumers are not the same as the ones used by consumers in Latin America or APAC, and merchants that ignore local payment preferences risk losing market share to competitors.
But localization isn’t just about payment method integration. There are a host of geo-specific regulations, privacy laws and currency rate dynamics that businesses need to navigate as they develop a localized payment strategy. The key to success will be localizing at scale, bringing a global approach to local ecommerce markets.
6. Poor UX Translates into Lost Revenue
Merchants are losing hundreds of billions of sales each year due to cart abandonment. In some cases, pricing or another issue with the product or service is to blame; however, in many instances, friction within the checkout experience is the primary reason for a shopper to abandon a purchase.
Minimizing cart abandonment should be a top priority for global businesses, as it is one of the most effective ways to recover lost revenue. According to research, preventing cart abandonment at checkout requires businesses to focus on three things:
- Streamlining the checkout process: 21% of all cart abandonments are due to a checkout process that consumers believe is too complicated.
- Offering preferred payment methods: 61% of shoppers say lack of preferred payment methods is a key reason why they abandoned a purchase.
- Minimizing payment declines: Payment authorization issues account for nearly 10% of all ecommerce losses.
Carol Grunberg is the Chief Business Officer at Yuno, a leading payments orchestration platform, serving a global customer base across 200 countries. With deep experience in the global payments and commerce industry gained through senior roles at Citi, AntGroup/Alipay, Google and Northwestern Mutual, Grunberg is passionate about transforming global commerce by revolutionizing the payments ecosystem and helping democratize finance worldwide. As CBO of Yuno, she leverages her expertise in new business development, client experience and strategy to expand Yuno’s reach and impact across markets and industries.
