Nearly half of UK consumers have experienced payment failures at checkout in the past year, according to new research from Transaction Network Services (TNS) – a reliability gap that can cost retailers dearly in both lost trust and revenue.
The study, based on a survey of 3,000 consumers in the UK, United States, and Australia, found that 46% of UK shoppers experienced a failed payment in the past 12 months. TNS noted that as retailers expand digital operations and add more internet-connected devices, many rely on self-managed, fragmented network solutions, increasing the risk of outages and security threats.
In many cases, payment breakdowns stem from failures in underlying network connectivity rather than the payment application itself, particularly when point-of-sale systems, kiosks or unattended terminals lose connection.
“Wake-up call for retailers”
“These figures should be a wake-up call for UK retailers,” said Matthew Thomas, Managing Director – UK and Ireland, TNS Payments Market. “Payment failure is not a fact of life. It is a symptom of fragmented infrastructure. When connectivity is fully managed, staff, customers, business applications and payment devices all stay online and stay secure. Retailers can reduce failures, protect revenue and build trust at checkout.”
TNS has developed a solution to this – TNSLink for Retail, a fully managed connectivity platform designed to improve resilience across distributed retail estates – which it will introduce at the Retail Technology Show on 22 and 23 April. The solution provides secure, scalable networking for point-of-sale systems, kiosks, IoT devices and digital signage, while simplifying vendor management and supporting PCI DSS compliance.
Subscriptions-based SMEs also face challenges
While TNS focuses on in-store payment solutions, their research aligns with recent findings from Access Paysuite. British SMEs with subscription and membership models lose an average of £159,500 annually due to failed payments, abandoned renewals, and checkout friction. Access Paysuite’s study, which surveyed 250 UK SME finance and revenue decision-makers, found that 3.4% of payment transactions fail on average, with 55.8% of these never recovered.
As an omnichannel approach becomes a retail norm, retailers need to closely evaluate how their technology infrastructure manages checkout pressures. “Retailers’ priority must shift to ensuring their infrastructure is able to withstand the pressures that today’s commerce environment demands,” Thomas said. “At the Retail Technology Show, we are demonstrating how resilient connectivity keeps transactions flowing and how platforms are evolving to support emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI)-initiated payments.”
Stay informed
Our editor carefully curates two newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research. Click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter sent straight to your inbox. Why not follow us on LinkedIn to receive the latest updates on our research and analysis?
