New Survey Findings on Online Checkout Losses
A third-party survey conducted in August 2025 by Talker Research for Spreedly reveals alarming statistics about the challenges faced by U.S. companies during online payment processes. According to the survey, a significant 25% of companies report losses exceeding $1 million annually during the checkout phase. This situation raises crucial concerns within the e-commerce industry regarding payment processing efficiency.
The State of Checkout 2025 Report
The survey, titled the 'State of Checkout 2025,' highlights that consumer behavior, rather than fraud, is driving these substantial annual losses. Notably, the primary causes of these checkouts failures are customer abandonment, cited by 29% of respondents, and unsupported payment methods, indicated by 28%. These findings emphasize the need for companies to understand their consumers better and adapt their offerings to meet evolving payment preferences.
Despite the potential benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhancing payment systems, many executives express skepticism about its application. About 83% of U.S. executives foresee AI as a crucial factor by 2027 in streamlining payments, yet concerns persist regarding its integration. Among respondents, the inability to track customer identities emerged as a significant worry for 23% of executives, while compliance risks and false positives represented substantial challenges for 21% and 20%, respectively.
Peter Dougherty, President of Spreedly, noted that while AI has transformative potential for payment systems, its application should enhance existing frameworks rather than complicate them further and introduce additional risks. "Our open payments platform enables businesses to unlock value and minimize losses while avoiding the need for excessive engineering resources to merely maintain their checkout processes," Dougherty stated.
Features of the Survey Findings
The 'State of Checkout 2025' survey revealed insightful trends regarding the retail and technology landscape as companies attempt to innovate within the sphere of online payments:
- - New methods of checkout are sprouting, with 40% of executives recently adding multicountry checkout capabilities to mitigate trade risks and other disruptions.
- - Generational differences highlight contrasting views towards AI's role in payment systems. Millennial executives display a higher level of optimism, while Gen Z leaders express considerable concerns related to consumer trust and the pitfalls of disintermediation.
- - Retailers are progressing at a faster pace than other sectors towards embracing digital wallets and bank transfer options, indicating shifts in consumer preferences.
- - Travel brands indicate the highest level of friction when processing cross-border transactions, experiencing more difficulties than other industries due to foreign exchange issues.
- - The manufacturing and financial services sectors observe the most significant losses tied to online checkout failures.
One notable aspect discussed in the survey is the engineering 'time tax' burdening many organizations. A considerable number of companies report allocating a quarter or more of their engineering teams' efforts toward maintaining payment systems, which can amount to the equivalent of ten full-time engineers in a 40-person team solely engaged in payment maintenance and optimization.
Conclusion
As the e-commerce market continues to evolve, the insights from the 'State of Checkout 2025' survey serve as a wake-up call for businesses regarding their checkout processes. With significant losses stemming from consumer-driven issues, companies must reassess their strategies to adapt to customers' demands and preferences. Moving forward, they will need to embrace innovative technology like AI carefully while ensuring it addresses existing challenges without compounding them, helping to transform the payment landscape for the better.
To obtain the complete report and data from the survey, interested individuals can reach out to Spreedly's designated media contact.