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December 2025 • Issue 25:12:01

What do merchants really want – Part 3

development at Silverflow; and Erick Tu, CEO of BLogic
Systems; and in an accompanying essay, Patricia Carlin, co-
founder and CEO of Deposyt.
1. What payment-related challenges are your
merchants talking about most often right now?

Robert Kraal, co-founder, business development at Silver-
flow (www.silverflow.com), stated that the primary con-
cerns he hears from merchants revolve around a crippling
lack of visibility and control, often rooted in outdated in-
frastructure. "Payments have moved beyond a simple back-
office utility; they are now a strategic lever, but legacy sys-
tems are holding them back," he said.

his article is the third and final installment in our Kraal mentioned the most common frustrations fall into
multipart series exploring the payment-related three areas. "First, a pervasive lack of transparency over
pain points merchants are raising most urgently. fees and transaction data, which makes reconciliation and
T In Parts 1 and 2, industry leaders shared what cost optimization nearly impossible. Second, poor accep-
they're hearing about rising costs, chargebacks, integra- tance rates and high numbers of false declines. Merchants
tions, support expectations and the expanding range of are losing billions annually when legitimate transactions
payment options at the point of sale. Here, we continue that are mistakenly flagged as fraud, damaging both revenue
conversation by asking a new group of experts to respond and customer loyalty. They need smarter fraud manage-
to the same five questions, providing additional perspec- ment tools, not just stricter ones.
tive on where merchants are feeling the most pressure and
where providers can make the biggest difference. "Finally, outdated systems that stifle innovation. These
1. What payment-related challenges are your merchants older platforms, maintained through patches and work-
arounds, lead to slow onboarding, inflexible contracts, and
talking about most often right now? poor technical support, preventing merchants from adapt-
2. Are shoppers asking for faster payments or new op- ing with the agility their business demands. They are look-
tions at the point of sale, or are other issues more ing for cloud-native infrastructure that provides real-time
pressing? data and flexibility."
3. How do merchant concerns differ depending on their
size or vertical market?
4. Beyond speed and payment options, what improve- Contributed articles inside by:
ments would make the biggest difference for your
merchants (e.g., lower costs, fewer disputes, easier in-
tegrations, better service)? Allen Kopelman .....................................................................................16
5. If you could name one thing merchants wish the in- Viktoria Soltesz ......................................................................................30
dustry would fix, what would it be?
Kate Knudsen .........................................................................................32
Featured in this article are Dale Cardarelli, enterprise Adam Atlas ..............................................................................................34
sales director at Shift4; Robert Kraal, co-founder, business

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