Majority of EMEA retailers plan to increase investment in payments, survey by ACI and Ovum finds

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55 percent of retailers and merchants in the EMEA region are planning to increase their investment into new payment capabilities in the next 18 to 24 months, according to the 2017 Global Payments Insight Survey: Merchants and Retailers by ACI Worldwide and Ovum.

The report, which surveyed more than 260 EMEA retailers and merchants across industries such as general merchandise, grocery, restaurants, fuel and convenience, and travel and lodging, reveals that infrastructure improvements (54%), security considerations (53%) and introducing analytics to payments (47%) are the main drivers behind these investment plans.

However, the research also finds several concerns that prevent merchants from investing more, including security concerns (87%) and regulatory compliance (70 percent).

Andrew Quartermaine, Vice President SaaS Customer Management, ACI Worldwide, comments: "Investment in new payment capabilities is clearly high on the agenda of merchants and retailers across the EMEA region. Most retailers have moved away from seeing payments as purely transactional and now understand that payments are crucial to the overall customer experience and success of their businesses. They also increasingly understand the value of payments data as an important tool for getting a single view of their customer."

Other key findings

• Payments technology and business benefits: 80 percent of respondents in EMEA agree that new payments technology will provide benefits for their organisation and 66 percent say they are willing to pay more for a broader range of payment services if they add value to their business. 89 percent say they would expect increased operational efficiency and 88 percent enhanced customer experience from their investment.
  
  
• Data breaches are a key concern: 74 percent of respondents are worried about liability in the event of data breaches, with mobile perceived as a greater risk than traditional online channels.
  
  
• New payment types: 62 percent of EMEA merchants say their organisation is ready to process emerging payment types and that flexibility to enable new payment method acceptance is the key omni-channel driver.

• Customer experience and innovation: Most merchants (79%) feel they are very much aware that customers want a broader choice of payment types, however more than two-thirds (72%) report their organisation needs help with creating innovation in customer experience

Andrew Quartermaine comments: "Merchants increasingly recognise the importance of enabling consumer choice and retaining the flexibility to support future payments innovation. We believe that to be able to respond to the challenges in this fast-changing market, it is important to adopt solutions that are flexible in regard to connectivity and the point of customer interaction."