Adyen Retail Report 2024: Balancing customer experience and business efficiency

• The Adyen Index: Retail Report explores global and local trends impacting businesses around the world. This report combines business and consumer data across 26 markets, coupled with economic commentary.

• This report combines insights from consumer and business research and industry experts to uncover how retailers can find the perfect balance between customer experience and business efficiency.

“Retailers are, more than ever, looking to maintain differentiation while ensuring efficiency,” said Alex Rhodes, Global Head of Unified Commerce at Adyen. “They must juggle this in an increasingly complex environment of changing regulations, new payment methods, new technologies like AI, new global competitors, and new business models. On top of that, the surface area they need to manage is expanding, from stores to ecommerce, mobile, and social. Retailers are challenged with connecting and integrating these channels while ensuring a consistent customer experience across each one. All this is within an increasingly global context with quickly evolving consumer demands.”

Retailers in Hong Kong have a lot on their plates. But, challenging times often provide the richest growth opportunities. New technology and rising customer expectations are helping to raise the bar across the industry. And the retailers in Hong Kong that stay ahead of the curve, will reap the rewards. The key to success is staying on top of customer demands without adding unnecessary complexity to your business, which poses the question:

How can retailers balance amazing customer experience with operational efficiency?

Make buying easy - How do you offer a variety of great payment experiences without adding complexity?

The moment of payment, whether in-person or online, perfectly illustrates the line retailers in Hong Kong must walk between efficiency and customer experience.

“When it comes to speed vs customer experience, finding the right balance is crucial. On the one hand, you want to get your customers through the checkout as fast as possible with minimal friction, and on the other hand, you want to sign them up to a loyalty program or have them engage with you in some way.” Holly Worst, Vice President of Retail, Adyen.

Payment technology can help, both in terms of ensuring a smooth experience and fostering further customer engagement. But, the payment landscape is evolving fast, with new methods and channels being added all the time. The challenge is to provide the best payment method and channel mix for your customers without weighing yourself down with too many complex integrations.

Popular ways to pay in 2024

Payment methods, speedy checkouts, new channels

68% of consumers in Hong Kong will abandon a purchase if they can’t pay how they want. But, with payment preferences evolving fast, it can be hard to keep up. For example, nowadays, it’s not just cash that’s being cast aside in some markets; physical cards are phasing out too. 59% of consumers in Hong Kong don’t even carry wallets any more, above the global average of 27%. Instead, they are relying on the ability to tap their phone to pay. QR code payments are also on the rise, with 29% of consumers in Hong Kong

using it.

Given the speed of customer adoption, it’s not surprising that businesses continue to play catch-up. Only 21% of businesses in Hong Kong accept digital wallets both online and in-store.

Shoppers in Hong Kong expect fast and easy checkout experiences, both online and in person. For example, 24% want retailers to use technology to make in-store shopping faster and 31% want to see more self-checkout options for the same reason.

But once again, businesses in Hong Kong are falling behind. Only 18% enable self-checkout and just 19% have mobile point of sale (mPOS) solutions to serve customers more efficiently. Online payment experiences are also falling short, with just 16% of retailers supporting one-click checkouts.

To view the full report, please visit https://www.adyen.com/contact/index-retail