UK retail: Brexit powers uplift in international currency provision

Visualsoft analysis of the UK’s top 250 retailers has found a 19% year-on-year increase in the number of brands offering the option to pay in international currency.

81% of these retailers have now gone down this route. The majority of these are Euros and USD, with 1% of retailers offering Yen. The increase is likely to be a reaction to Brexit-related uncertainty in the lead-up to 29th March, according to Visualsoft.

Its research also found that the prevalence of innovative payment methods is increasing. For example, after only being in the market for little over a year, Amazon Pay is already being used by 10% of top retailers. A further one in ten retailers offer finance products from lenders such as Klarna – up from almost nothing in 2017.

However, this appears to be having a detrimental impact on basic payment methods. 23% fail to offer a payment choice other than a mainstream credit or debit card. This has worsened by 4% year-on-year.

Dale Higginbottom, Head of CRO at Visualsoft, comments: “These figures suggest proactivity in the lead-up to Brexit and adoption of new payment trends, which is great to see. However, we know that up to a quarter of consumers also abandon their transactions at checkout because the retailer doesn’t provide their payment method of choice. Offering a wide range of options is an important way for retailers to maximise their sales potential, but too many are still not doing so – with 23% neglecting an offer outside of traditional cards. This inability to get the basics right could prove crucial as we move into 2019.”