Ecommpay pushes retailers to turn payments into growth engine

Ecommpay is urging online retailers to rethink the role of their payments teams, arguing that the function has shifted from operational overhead to a proven generator of margin and customer loyalty.

Turn payments into growth engine

In a new white paper, Making Payments a Profit Centre, the company sets out how a more strategic approach to payments can unlock efficiencies, reduce leakage, and directly support growth in increasingly competitive e-commerce markets.

Arturs Gocs, Ecommpay’s Chief Operational Officer, says the industry has been slow to appreciate the commercial leverage that sits within payments infrastructure.

“For too long, payments has been seen as a cost to a business – rather than a revenue generator,” he notes.

Interviews with retailers for the paper reveal that many are now challenging this assumption, elevating payments to a board-level priority and embedding the function within cross-functional steering groups.

Leadership engagement unlocks measurable gains

According to the report, internal governance is the strongest predictor of success.

Securing committed involvement from the C-suite—rather than periodic sign-offs—appears to be the decisive factor in turning payments into a sophisticated commercial tool.

Executives who participate directly in payments steering committees are better able to champion investment, align teams, and accelerate operational improvements.

This shift in mindset is yielding tangible benefits.

The research highlights examples such as Blink Pet Foods, which found that incremental spending on its payments capabilities produced higher returns than alternative investments.

Other merchants reported that optimising routing and fee calculations generated savings of up to 26% on debit card fees, while outsourcing certain account-to-account processes delivered a 12.5% reduction in costs and removed more than 500 hours of manual work annually.

Technology elevates payments performance

The white paper also points to the growing contribution of advanced analytics and machine learning.

Retailers deploying large language models for fraud detection and dispute resolution have seen faster case handling—up to 60% quicker in some instances—with fewer false positives and less friction for legitimate customers.

Spotify, one of the contributors to the research, views payments not merely as a back-office function but as a pillar of the user experience.

Its approach—using external partners to enhance performance—illustrates how data-driven optimisation can support both global scale and local preferences.

Cross-border growth raises the stakes

With cross-border e-commerce forecast to outpace domestic online retail almost threefold, payments strategy is becoming a critical determinant of competitiveness.

International expansion exposes merchants to higher costs, more complex regulatory environments and greater risk of failed transactions.

Ecommpay argues that only by treating payments as a strategic asset—not an administrative necessity—can retailers capture the full value of global demand.

The white paper’s contributors, including Spotify, Blink Pet Foods, Vendorcom and Finisterre, broadly agree that the industry is at an inflection point.

Payments teams that secure executive sponsorship and embrace a performance-led culture are increasingly well positioned to drive revenue, sustain loyalty and support long-term growth.