The news: Consumers are trending toward mobile-friendly, flexible payment methods, per a report from Verifone and FreedomPay.

• 37% of consumers anticipate using mobile wallets more in 2026.
• 28% of shoppers expect to complete payments with third-party apps.
• And 19% of consumers anticipate checking out with buy now, pay later (BNPL).

And consumers are choosing where they shop based on certain checkout criteria.

• 32% of respondents claimed that availability of their preferred payment type strongly influences where they shop or stay; 44% said it mildly influences those choices.
• Younger consumers are more punishing: 43% of 18- to 27-year-olds say that checkout options have a “strong” impact on their brand choices, compared with only 17% of those ages 60+.

Why this matters: Sixty-eight percent merchants have aging (more than four years old) POS hardware that is more likely to be incompatible with new digital payment preferences. Seventy-seven percent of retailers and 85% of hospitality providers admit that their payment systems are not unified across a single platform for in-store, online, and in-app checkouts. 

These merchants are more likely to lose Gen Zers’ spending by not accepting their preferred payment methods. The lack of a unified payment system also shreds their ability to track spend and offer loyalty programs across interfaces.

Implications for retailers: While the upfront cost to upgrade POS hardware can be high, foregoing more modernization will cause younger shoppers to migrate toward better integrated checkouts that align with their payment preferences. 

Newer hardware also offers merchants a chance to plug in AI solutions at checkout like Square’s Managerbot and Cash App’s Moneybot, where new AI bots can help resource-constrained SMBs.

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