INDUSTRY // Retail. tech

“ Our latest PayTo Index launches as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach – a pivotal moment for retail globally. And it comes at a time where Australia’ s retail growth remains flat, requiring retailers to go above and beyond to encourage sales through more cost-effective and seamless digital payment methods like PayTo,” said Chris Jewell, President and Co-Founder of Zepto.

The report shows PayTo’ s Account on File method is emerging as a practical alternative to major card schemes for online retailers, delivering lower transaction fees, improved cash flow and a better post-purchase experience. Large marketplaces and major retailers are rapidly coming online, accelerating the shift toward real-time account-to-account payments. increased agreement conversions from 40 % to 70 %.

Incentives drive first-time and repeat PayTo use

The Index also shows how a leading e-commerce brand used targeted incentives to accelerate PayTo adoption. As part of efforts to diversify its payment mix, reduce reliance on major card schemes, lower transaction costs and offer greater choice to customers, the retailer introduced a 5 % discount for purchases made using PayTo during a major sales event.

This initiative delivered a tenfold increase in PayTo daily transaction volumes, reaching US $ 1.2 million in a single day, with half generated by first-time PayTo users. Notably, 63 % of these new customers returned for a subsequent purchase, highlighting how welldesigned incentives and strategic checkout placement can drive both initial adoption and long-term customer loyalty.

“ Incentives, when combined with clear consumer education and a seamless user experience, are highly effective at driving PayTo adoption in e-commerce. But incentives alone aren’ t enough,” said Jewell.“ To truly unlock the full potential of PayTo, we need consistent standards across banks, merchants and platforms. That means intuitive real-time authorization in banking apps, prominent positioning at checkout and ongoing education to build trust and confidence among consumers.” p

Poor UX within banking apps is limiting conversion

Despite strong momentum, inconsistent user experience across banking apps is hindering PayTo Agreement conversion and, in turn, cart conversion. The report finds that poor UX within consumers’ banking apps, such as buried PayTo Agreements, unclear authorization steps or the absence of in-app support, significantly reduces the likelihood of conversion. In contrast, banks that surface real-time in-app prompts and deep links to PayTo Agreements are achieving far higher conversion rates. For example, one bank’ s introduction of real-time push notifications

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