Key facts
- AI shopping assistants can recommend products, choose merchants, and initiate payments, potentially eroding direct retailer relationships.
- Adyen's co-CEO stated that customer loyalty is becoming more important for merchants.
- Adyen has introduced a platform for enterprise merchants and AI-agent payments.
- Adyen acquired loyalty software firm Talon.One and billing provider Orb to bolster retention services.
- Adyen is accelerating spending on computing and storage capacity due to AI demand and supply constraints.
The increasing use of AI chatbots in consumer shopping is prompting merchants to strengthen direct customer relationships to safeguard loyalty and repeat business, according to payments firm Adyen.
AI-driven shopping assistants have the potential to manage product recommendations, merchant selection, and payment initiation, which could diminish the direct connections retailers currently depend on. Adyen co-CEO Pieter van der Does highlighted this trend, noting that a merchant client aims to maintain its 70% volume from direct channels as shoppers increasingly start their searches via chatbots.
"Loyalty becomes way more important," van der Does stated. To address this, Adyen, which serves retailers like Hermès and Hugo Boss, has launched a platform for enterprise merchants and AI-agent payments. The company has also acquired loyalty software firm Talon.One and billing provider Orb to enhance its customer retention services.
Van der Does emphasized that AI is significantly impacting their merchants, and Adyen aims to be a partner not just for payments but also for loyalty, ensuring merchants maintain direct links with consumers and avoid being disintermediated by large language models (LLMs).
In related news, JPMorgan analysts viewed Adyen's signing of OpenAI as a customer as an unexpected positive, indicating the company's progress with AI firms. Adyen is also increasing its spending on computing and storage capacity, with approximately two-thirds of its capital expenditures allocated to private cloud systems for its core services, driven by AI demand and supply constraints.