CMSPI has released its second annual State of the Industry Report, created in collaboration with its client-led Insights Advisory Council, to evaluate nine payment methods against five key characteristics, including user experience, cost, and security, with input from major retailers like Amazon, Google, and Walmart. The report aims to educate and inform merchant leaders, payments industry professionals, and global policymakers on the attributes defining an optimal payment experience for both businesses and consumers. The Insights Advisory Council (IAC), established in 2023, comprises global business thought leaders from companies such as Amazon, Best Buy, Etsy, Google, iHerb, lululemon, Kroger, McDonald’s, Shell, Sony, Target, and Walmart. This year, Etsy and Google joined the Council, which focuses on shaping more effective payment experiences. The report’s methodology evaluates payment methods based on five core characteristics: user experience, market acceptance, cost, security, and governance. The nine payment methods score-carded include cash, credit and debit cards, digital wallets (pass-through and staged/stored-value), bank transfers, real-time payments, buy-now pay-later, and stablecoin. Callum Godwin, CMSPI Chief Economist and Chair of the Council, noted, “In our engagements with the world’s largest merchants, CMSPI has observed huge variations in payments patterns across the globe. We hope our scoring methodology invites constructive conversations across key industry stakeholders, and together we can move closer towards the perfect payment method.” Liz Garner Divelbiss, CMSPI Chief Brand Officer, added, “All feedback and dialogue about the scoring are welcome and encouraged as we continue to expand our awareness of global payments and seek to create a better, more secure payments environment. For example, stablecoin acceptance is relatively nascent in consumer-to-business payments so we would expect the payment type to score higher next year as global regulatory frameworks rapidly adapt to support this innovative payment use case.” CMSPI is a global payments advisory firm that assists leading merchants in optimizing their payment strategies. The company utilizes expert consulting, market visibility, and proprietary analytics to identify inefficiencies, generate savings, drive sales growth, and develop advanced payment strategies. CMSPI operates globally with primary locations in Atlanta, Georgia, U.
S., and Manchester, U.
K., along with regional offices in Dusseldorf, Germany, San Diego, California, U.
S., and Sydney, Australia.
