In the wake of current macroeconomic conditions, bringing in revenue has never been more important. And yet, struggling businesses may be letting money slip right through their fingers -- at the point of sale, to be exact. To address this, one-third (34%) of financial decision makers at UK businesses plan to invest in their payments infrastructure over the next two years.

The research – from YouGov and GoCardless, a global leader in bank payment solutions which surveyed 503 UK business decision-makers and 2,159 UK consumers – also reveals that over a fifth (21%) of those planning to invest are doing so to keep up with the market trends. Other drivers include introducing new products and services (19%), reducing payment fraud (16%), and keeping up with competitors (16%).

The top areas for investment are digital invoicing (33%), mobile wallets (31%), Direct Debit (28%) and open banking (28%).

Payment investment driven by market trends and payer preferences

Embracing new technology could help stem the tide of customers walking away from an online purchase. The research finds that nearly seven in 10 (69%) UK consumers would abandon the online checkout if the payment process was too complex and six in 10 (64%) would stop their purchase if their preferred payment method wasn’t available.

Business buyers are similarly frustrated. Half (50%) of businesses would stop a purchase if their preferred payment method was unavailable; 56% would drop out if the checkout process is too complex; and 44% get frustrated when they’re required to manually enter payment details at the online checkout.

As new payment technology rolls out, one-third (33%) of financial decision makers at UK businesses said they are likely to try Variable Recurring Payments, powered by open banking, for business purchases as the technology becomes more widely available. Of these leaders, over a quarter (26%) noted that Variable Recurring Payments sound like a better version of Direct Debit and 23% agreed that they sound convenient.  

Siamac Rezaiezadeh, VP of Product Marketing and Insights at GoCardless, said: “Payer expectations have skyrocketed in recent years. Customers are not afraid to walk away from a purchase if the experience is poor and businesses need to work harder to keep up. In this environment where every sale counts, merchants can't afford to miss out. While it’s promising that a third of companies plan to take action, we would urge even more businesses to get involved. At the same time, it’s great to see that payers are open to payment innovations. New technology such as open banking payments can deliver the safer, faster, and more seamless checkout experiences they’re looking for.”

The insights into the UK’s paying habits were revealed in a new report, ‘Demystifying Payer Experience’, from GoCardless, which surveyed over 7,000 consumers across the UK, US, France, Germany and Australia, and more than 1,500 business decision-makers in the UK, US, France, and Germany. The report dives deeper into payer preferences, checkout challenges, appetite to try new payment methods and areas of investment for businesses looking to upgrade their payment infrastructure.