Making payments a profit centre: from background function to boardroom priority

For years, payments have been treated as a necessary cost of doing business. Something that sits quietly in the background while teams focus on growth, marketing and product.

That mindset is now actively holding businesses back.

At Ecommpay’s recent webinar, Making payments a profit centre, senior payments leaders from retail, marketplaces and travel came together to discuss how payments are evolving – and why the smartest organisations now see them as a strategic growth lever.

The discussion was chaired by James Wood and featured insights from:

• Roy Blokker, Head of Strategic Sales and Alliances at Ecommpay
• Adam Sherlock, Fraud and Payments Manager at FitFlop
• Faheem Bakshi, Payments Lead at Kinguin
• Micheál Egan, Global Head of Payment Operations at Retail in Motion

Their message was consistent: payments are no longer just about processing transactions. They shape conversion, customer experience, market expansion – and ultimately profitability.

The research behind Ecommpay’s report reflects a simple reality. Consumer expectations have changed faster than most payment strategies.

More than three quarters of shoppers will abandon a purchase if they can’t pay using their preferred method, or if checkout feels slow, complex or intrusive. At the same time, cross-border e-commerce is growing around three times faster than domestic sales. That means more opportunity – but far more competition.

In this environment, payments are no longer the final operational step. They are a decisive moment in the customer journey.

As Roy Blokker explained during the webinar:
“Payments aren’t a cost layer anymore. They’re a strategic growth lever, helping companies expand faster, run leaner and stay competitive.”

One of the clearest signals of maturity is where payments sit inside the organisation.

At Kinguin, payments have evolved from a finance sub-function into a cross-functional team spanning product, compliance, fraud, marketing and leadership. That shift enabled faster expansion into new markets, stronger commercial negotiations with PSPs, and measurable improvements in conversion and chargebacks.

Retail in Motion takes a similar view. Payments are positioned as a strategic enabler, with initiatives assessed like any other investment: will this make money or save money?

By contrast, in many organisations payments remain invisible – until something goes wrong. As Adam Sherlock noted, colleagues often assume there’s “some sort of magic” behind the buy button. Changing that perception requires visibility, education and evidence.

Across the panel, three success factors came up again and again.

Education. Payments are complex and full of jargon. Translating that complexity into commercial outcomes is essential for winning C-suite support.

Data. High-performing teams are relentlessly data-driven. Authorisation rates, conversion, authentication friction, chargebacks and settlement all tell a story – but only when distilled into metrics leaders can act on.

Collaboration. Payments touch every part of the business, from customer service to marketing. When teams share dashboards and speak the same language, improvement accelerates.

Miss one of these, and even the strongest business case can stall.

Turning payments into a profit centre doesn’t require a multi-year transformation. The fastest way to shift internal perception is to deliver early, visible wins.

These often start with cost: renegotiating acquirer terms, optimising routing, or consolidating volumes. Several merchants in the research achieved double-digit savings this way.

But revenue wins matter just as much. Adding local payment methods, offering local currencies or simplifying checkout can lift conversion without long development cycles. Back-office automation – from reconciliation to chargeback handling – also delivers rapid ROI while freeing teams to focus on growth.

Quick wins do more than improve numbers. They build trust and unlock momentum.

A common trap is measuring everything – and understanding nothing. Some organisations track hundreds of payment KPIs but struggle to answer a basic question: are we performing better than last month?

The most effective teams focus on a tight set of indicators: authorisation and conversion rates, authentication friction, fraud and chargebacks, settlement success. These are reported regularly, benchmarked carefully and shared with senior stakeholders.

The goal isn’t perfect reporting. It’s clarity.

No merchant excels at everything. Every organisation represented on the panel works with specialist partners – whether for local acquiring, fraud prevention, PCI compliance or payment orchestration.

The strongest strategies balance flexibility with control. Multiple partners preserve negotiating power and resilience, while orchestration enables faster market entry, smarter routing and continuous optimisation.

As the panel agreed, the best payment setups don’t just react to failures – they learn from every transaction to prevent them.

Payments become a profit centre not through one big change, but through many aligned ones.

Better conversion is revenue. Lower friction is loyalty. Smarter routing is margin. Faster market entry is growth.

When payments are treated as a strategic function – with executive sponsorship, clear metrics and the right partners – they stop being a cost of doing business and start driving it.

This article only scratches the surface. For deeper insights, real-world examples and practical recommendations, download Ecommpay’s white paper:

It’s essential reading for any business ready to turn payments into a competitive advantage.