Changing customer expectations and technological advancements are reshaping the commerce landscape, transforming how businesses engage with payments and consumers.
Among the most significant commerce and payments trends to watch for in 2025 are the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), embedded finance and payment orchestration, according to a new report by Global Payments, a American fintech company specializing in payment technology and services to merchants, issuers and consumers.
This report draws from Global Payments’ research and conversations with industry experts from leading financial institutions, businesses and payment networks. It also draws from a proprietary survey of 600 global professionals involved in making decisions on issues related to technology investment and payments.
This combination of qualitative and quantitative insight aims to provide a comprehensive view of how businesses are approaching the strategic value of the payment experience and related technologies.
From these interviews and surveys, six trends have emerged. These are expected to define the future of commerce and payments this year onward.
The rise of AI
AI is transforming commerce by enhancing efficiency, security, and customer engagement. It improves operational efficiency by accelerating the flow of mission critical data, expanding insights from that data and the ability, and allowing businesses to make better and more timely decisions from these insights.
AI also automates simple tasks and improves customer response times. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this reduces operational costs by handling some payroll and human resources (HR) functions, generating basic marketing reports and product descriptions, and serving as virtual assistants.
AI-enabled systems can also identify purchase trends, track the number of times a customer transfers money to another individual, and provide credit scores. This gives a deeper and more-nuanced understanding of customer transactions.
Finally, fraud detection and prevention is another promising area for AI integration. In this function, AI can help spot fraud by alerting payment processors to activity that deviates from historical norms for each account.
Despite the potential of AI, the Global Payments survey found a divide between enterprise companies and SMEs and mid-market businesses in adoption. While enterprise companies remain cautious due to data privacy concerns, SMEs are rapidly embracing AI.
Among the SMEs surveyed, 94% said they were testing, deploying, or actively using AI to enhance their use of biometrics, while 67% said they were applying it to tap-to-pay/tap-to-phone transactions.
Embedded finance expands into B2B
Embedded payments, which have already reshaped consumer experiences, are now transforming business-to-business (B2B) transactions. These capabilities are being integrated into business processes and supply chains to enhance efficiencies for businesses and vendors alike.
Results from the Global Payments survey reveal that while enterprise companies have long adopted embedded payments, SMEs and mid-market companies are now increasing their investments in the area.
Three in four enterprise-sized businesses (76%) reported more than five years of experience using embedded payments. Meanwhile, SMEs (82%) and mid-market businesses (63%) were found to be much more likely to increase or significantly increase their investments in embedded payments compared with their larger counterparts in the coming year.
Among key commerce sectors, retailers lead embedded payment adoption (74%), the study found, while the automative, restaurant and hospitality industries expressed the most interest in exploring embedded payments.
Results show that businesses are adopting in-app payments to lower transaction fees, reduce cart abandonment, and improve operational efficiency.
Payment orchestration continues to stay relevant
Payment orchestration is a mature technology that allows businesses to route and process payments across multiple payment providers. It’s critical in promoting financial transparency, improving efficiencies, as well as mitigating fraud and losses.
According to the Global Payments study, payment orchestration has been used widely for five years or more by 76% of all businesses. Yet its importance continues to grow, with 35% of the companies polled planning to increase their investment in payment orchestration platforms in the coming year.
The benefits of payment orchestration are comprehensive and systemic, with respondents citing improved security and fraud prevention (89%), operational efficiency (84%), customer experience (83%) and accessibility (83%) as the top advantages of payment orchestration.
Unifying the back-end of commerce
Driven by a customer base that wants a seamless digital shopping experience, often directly on social media platforms and search engines, businesses are placing big bets on unified commerce platforms to integrate their back end operations.
The Global Payments study found that the retail sector currently leads adoption, with 43% already using unified commerce platforms. Among these retailers, 73% have been using the technology for more than five years.
SMEs (67%) and mid-market companies (71%) are much more likely to increase or significantly increase their investments in unified commerce platforms than enterprise-sized companies, with restaurants, hospitality, and leisure at the forefront.
This trend is being fueled by the rise of “search-to-purchase”, a functionality which allows a consumer to use search fields in social media platforms like Instagram, Google or TikTok, to find items and services of interest, and then buy those items without navigating away from the site.
Another fast-growing trend is live commerce, an interactive shopping experience where products are showcased and sold in real-time via live-streaming on digital platforms. Initially popularized in Asia, live commerce is now expanding worldwide. According to the Global Payments survey, 29% of respondents are already incorporating live commerce as part of their business strategy.
However, live commerce is seen as an extension of in-person shopping rather than a replacement for physical stores. Among the enterprises polled by Global Payments, 55% said physical stores would remain a very high or high priority, nearly as high as e-commerce (60%), mobile (68%) and social media (61%).
POS systems evolve into comprehensive service hubs
Point-of-sale (POS) systems are evolving into comprehensive service hubs. Businesses are seizing their potential to improve operations, gather data, and deliver better customer experiences.
POS systems create a vast trove of data on customers, helping businesses better understand them and their intent to purchase. At the same time, the real-time information transfer at the POS feeds critical data into the supply chain, helping improve efficiency in inventory management, reduce returns, and refine pricing strategies.
In the case of a restaurant, for example, POS-generated data allow businesses to know and even suggest the kinds of personalization consumers typically make when they order. This customer intelligence creates a far more dynamic experience than a card-present payment which might give the merchant only the order total.
AI can also be integrated into POS systems, transforming them into proactive partners business management. For example, using POS data, AI can optimize inventory management, but also identify possible times when more or fewer employees are needed.
Leveraging technology to combat fraud
As digital payments become the norm and cyber threats grow more sophisticated, businesses are turning to emerging technology to combat fraud and data theft.
Biometrics, such as fingerprint identification (ID), facial recognition, retinal scans, or vein patterns, are increasingly being used to identify customers by their physical characteristics.
31% of the companies surveyed by Global Payments said they were investing in biometrics to improve security, with SMEs (88%) being more than twice as likely to increase their investments in biometrics compared with their mid-market or enterprise counterparts. This is because larger organizations may already be using the technology, the report says.
Of those who had adopted it, 96% reported a very high or high position impact. Companies also said biometrics lead to improved customer experiences and operational efficiencies.
Another emerging security tool is payment tokens and cryptograms. Tokenization converts sensitive data into unique digital tokens that can be efficiently transmitted across borders using standardized definitions. This reduces the need for complex verification processes, while ensuring that transactions are completed more securely.
Global e-commerce fraud is increasing at a fast pace. According to a study by fintech research firm Juniper Research, the value of e-commerce fraud will surge from US$44.3 billion in 2024 to US$107 billion in 2029, representing a 141% increase.
This growth will be driven by the rise of AI, deepfakes, and the increasing sophistication of attacks. These threats will be compounded by the rise of friendly fraud, where consumers make online shopping purchases with their own credit cards, but then request chargebacks from their issuing banks after receiving the purchased goods or services.
Featured image credit: edited from freepik
