AI agents, TikTok Shop, new mobile apps and marketplaces make omnichannel a whole new game. Retailers know this, with nearly half of retail executives (46%) citing the omnichannel experience as a top growth opportunity. Yet for many, the effort to optimize is lost at the point of payment, where declined transactions and disjointed experiences can cost sales and trust.
In an interview with Retail Dive, Jake Lambrecht, Vice President of Partnerships at Nuvei, explained why omnichannel remains challenging despite being part of retail strategy for years.
“Omnichannel isn’t new, but how merchants look at it has changed, because consumers are no longer channel specific. Instead, they move between digital and physical touch points often at the same time, for the same purchase,” said Lambrecht. “They are also becoming savvier with payments, and they have their favorites. Retailers need to keep up with the trends and deliver a seamless journey.”
That’s the gap many retailers face: they invest heavily in creating a consistent brand experience but remain fragmented when it comes to payments. Considering that 91% of consumers are omnichannel shoppers, there’s too much on the line to settle for less than seamless.
Why omnichannel payments break down
The root of the problem is that retailers view online and physical stores as two different areas. That means their payments infrastructure is typically built one channel at a time.
“Retailers often see silos: here's our storefront, POS, back end and e-commerce store. They’re looking at different systems, segregated in terms of data, and they can’t cross-reference,” explained Lambrecht. “If your touchpoints are fragmented and disjointed, they can’t speak to each other. That’s where the consistent experience can start to fall apart for the shopper and leave the retailer with insight gaps.”
Instead, payments infrastructure should support one seamless experience across in-store and online payments, with visibility into both. That extends to returns and loyalty, where retailers need to reconcile transactions regardless of the channel.
“As a retailer, you need to know, can we recognize our customer? Can we reward them? Can they pay how they want? Can they return a purchase wherever they choose?” said Lambrecht. “When you can answer those questions consistently across channels, that’s when your payments infrastructure stops being treated like invisible plumbing and more like a strategic revenue layer.”
Three plays for omnichannel payments
Retailers can make three key moves to reduce the fragmentation and inconsistencies that get in the way.
1. First, they can get one clear view of payments across the business. A single payments platform can capture consistent transaction data across stores, franchisees and corporate models, giving retailers visibility across channels, geographies and payment methods.
2. Second, they can use that consolidated view for deeper insights. “Real-time data in a single platform means you can automate the process of getting insights. Retailers can see approval and decline patterns by channel or geography, and sharpen their pencils on that data,” said Lambrecht.
Applying AI within the platform can take that analysis further. With payment data in one place, AI can look across channels rather than analyzing each in isolation, helping retailers spot patterns and anomalies they might otherwise miss and identify opportunities to improve the customer experience or generate more revenue.
3. The third play is an “open loop” approach, which gives retailers the flexibility and backup they need. Nuvei, for example, has partnered with FreedomPay to provide a gateway layer that lets merchants connect to their preferred acquirers by region, choosing from thousands of options, and solving a critical redundancy challenge.
“You shouldn't necessarily have all your acquirer eggs in one basket, especially as a large enterprise global merchant. This ‘closed loop’ scenario can be dangerous, especially during peak sales periods. If your provider goes down, you could end up losing massive volume and revenue,” noted Lambrecht. “That’s why we advocate for an open loop that allows for redundancy, where a merchant can use a single platform across every channel, but utilize different acquirers that may be stronger in certain regions or offer alternative payment methods.”
Build for what comes next
Omnichannel will only get more complex as new channels, including agentic commerce, enter the picture. That makes a consistent view across payments even more important.
“When payments are segregated, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand the state of your business as a whole,” Lambrecht said. “My advice for today, and even ten years down the road, is to gain that single, consistent view. That's the goal of omnichannel, so it should be the goal of your payments infrastructure too.”
Talk to a Nuvei expert about unifying your payment experience across every channel.
