Your Guide to the Key Payment & eCommerce Trends of 2024

If you are involved in commerce, you are very well aware of the dynamic nature of the payment landscape. After all, things like customer preferences, fraud threats, tech solutions, and regulations keep changing all the time, creating an environment that is full of opportunities yet may be difficult to navigate.

In this overview, we analyze some of the latest industry trends and explain what your top priorities as a merchant should be when it comes to the fintech sphere. Keep reading to learn all the crucial details about the direction in which payments are heading this year and the actions you can take to ensure your business is in sync with it!

Top 5 Trends Merchants Must Not Miss

Therefore, merchants find themselves in a tricky situation, where they have to find a way of balancing innovativeness, convenience, security, and compliance in their payment offerings. Here are the main trends that are emerging as a result of these significant shifts:

1. Increasing Diversity in Payment Methods

In recent years, most merchants tended to accept four to five payment means, including bank cards, digital wallets, debit transfers, and mobile payments. However, over the course of 2023, 8 in 10 merchants reportedly adopted new methods, with real-time payments and Buy Now, Pay Later services being among the top picks.

This tendency reflects the growing consumer demand for enhanced convenience, flexibility, and speed in commercial transactions. It is also a natural response to the economic turbulence that has been affecting the majority of countries around the world ever since the start of the global pandemic.

2. Heightened Focus on Data Insights

Modern-day merchants employ various strategies to create better payment experiences for customers. For instance, 90% promote certain trusted payment methods at checkout to reduce fraud risks and processing costs. Besides, the same percentage of businesses utilize tools like automated retries and smart payment routing to boost authorization rates.

Yet, the key to implementing such solutions is data. Without it, merchants would navigate the dynamic payment landscape blindly, basing their actions on chance rather than concrete insights. Tracking and analyzing data in-house or through third-party services enables companies to improve fraud detection and prevention, understand client behavior, and personalize payment experiences.

3. Growing Reliance on Payment Partnerships

What’s more, an increasing number of merchants these days partner up with other stakeholders to cut operational costs without compromising service quality.

For instance, many retail businesses turn to third-party marketplaces, which allow them to expand their reach and optimize logistics without significant investments. While the popularity of specific marketplaces typically depends on the region and merchant size, platforms like Mercado Libre and Amazon are popular choices.

Additionally, merchants employ multiple payment processors and acquirers to enhance flexibility and coverage, as well as to improve authorization rates.

4. Evolving Fraud Management Measures

Merchants are diverging in their fraud management strategies. Nowadays, fewer retailers see cost minimization as paramount, with the majority focusing either on improving customer experiences or reducing fraud and chargebacks. Yet, despite these differences in approaches, there’s a shared tendency to prioritize AI and ML-driven fraud orchestration and refund management.

Notably, while most merchants intend to adopt AI-driven tools, there are disparities in monitoring fraud across different stages of the customer journey. For instance, many monitor for fraud during purchase and payment, but fewer do so at pre- or post-purchase stages, which may cause strategic challenges in the long term.

5. Advancing Local & Cross-Border RTPs

Real-time payments are rapidly gaining traction globally, with countries like India, Brazil, and Asia leading the way.

While Europe and the US are slower to adopt this trend, the interest in the implementation of such payment solutions among local retailers is prominent. In fact, despite the initial lag, Europe is expected to catch up fast, driven by mandated usage enhancing financial inclusion and the EPI digital wallet.

Cross-border real-time payments are the next frontier, which is currently facing regulatory hurdles. Fortunately, there are multiple initiatives worldwide set to ease these challenges, like Swift’s GPI and CBDCs rolling out across multiple jurisdictions.

Summing Up: What Should Merchants Focus On in the Near Future?

Ultimately, collaboration, innovation, and a data-driven approach will be fundamental to success in the rapidly changing payments landscape in 2024 and beyond. Thus, merchants that manage to keep up with the key trends described in this overview and adapt their payment strategies accordingly will be better positioned to meet the evolving needs and expectations of their customers.