Embedded payments and the quiet elimination of checkout friction
The most conversion-friendly checkout is the one a customer never consciously experiences. Embedded payments take that principle to its logical conclusion: payment credentials stored, reauthorisation silent, and the visible checkout step removed entirely from the return purchase journey. What Uber demonstrated at scale a decade ago is now within reach for mid-market and smaller merchants in the Netherlands and Belgium, through infrastructure that most already have access to but have not fully activated.
The practical mechanics matter here. Stored credentials combined with one-click or silent reauthorisation flows mean that a returning customer moves from product page to order confirmation without a single active payment input. That removes the moment of hesitation where cart abandonment concentrates. Research consistently shows that the drop-off rate at the payment step is disproportionate relative to earlier funnel stages, and embedded payment logic directly targets that weak point.
For Dutch and Belgian merchants, the relevance is immediate. Platforms such as Adyen and Stripe already expose the infrastructure required: tokenised stored credentials, merchant-initiated transaction flows, and silent reauthorisation APIs. The gap is rarely technical availability. It is activation. Many merchants have implemented these platforms without enabling the stored credential and one-click layers that would eliminate repeat-purchase friction.
The broader embedded finance trajectory adds a loyalty dimension to what is already a conversion argument. Merchants who integrate payment, and potentially lending or insurance, into a single seamless journey own more of the customer relationship and reduce the incentive to shop elsewhere. That is a retention argument built on UX, not on points programmes.
The concrete action is an audit. Map every step between purchase intent and order confirmation for a returning customer on your current checkout. Any step requiring active payment input from someone who has already bought from you is a recoverable friction point. Activating stored credentials and silent reauthorisation is the first, highest-impact move available on infrastructure most merchants already pay for.
Source: paymentsdive.com
