Unified commerce – can omnichannel payments drive merchant success?

Chris Kronenthal, President of FreedomPay, talks payment trends, AI's impact, unified commerce strategies, FreedomPay's ecommerce expansion, and his big bet for 2026.

What trends are you seeing in the payment industry today, and how will they change over the next five to ten years?

From a trend perspective, it almost feels like ‘more of the same’, yet the pressure to modernise keeps building. Merchants are still focused on concrete pain points, such as delivering omnichannel experiences and unifying data for business analytics or operations.

Our recently published report showed that, in the French market, only 30% of merchants have offline support. This figure reflects that the industry still has far to go to provide holistic, integrated omnichannel services that are both resilient and forward-looking – and that can help businesses integrate their data and transform it into actionable insights. Over the next five to ten years, I expect that work to accelerate, but with new layers such as payment orchestration, which is a rapidly developing solution in unified commerce.

One trending topic today is agentic commerce. However, for the average merchant, those capabilities will probably be bought from one of the selling systems they already use today to handle ERP, inventory, payments, and more – with agentic interactions layered on top of that. We will also see that the way in which people interact with technology is about to change, especially with more handheld devices and AI-driven (agentic) experiences through mobile and web. As these form factors evolve, merchants are now focusing on getting the basics right, so that they’re ready for that transformation coming up.

How is FreedomPay driving unified commerce and removing friction for enterprise merchants?

Enterprise merchants have a lot to juggle – from the systems they use to engage with consumers to loyalty platforms, hardware, and form factors. If they are a multi-regional provider, they need to replicate this stack around the globe. This is where new innovations like payment orchestration can help enterprises consolidate their tech into one global platform.

FreedomPay sits inside that ecosystem as the federating layer. We secure acceptance across mobile apps, ecommerce sites, attended and unattended POS, and roaming associates. Our payment orchestration platform not only handles payment acceptance but also interleaves it with their loyalty platforms. Our mission is to deliver a frictionless technical integration layer that operates at a global scale so that merchants can provide a unified experience.

Because our layer is fully integrated across all their channels, it generates rich first-party data for merchants. This includes not only transaction details but also customer preferences and behaviours across every touchpoint. By using this data, merchants can make the customer journey more intelligent and personalised by providing an ‘endless aisle’ experience.

FreedomPay is known for in-store solutions. What are your expansion plans for ecommerce, and what is driving this growth strategy?

Despite our reputation as in-store solution providers, our data shows that 80% of our merchants already use us as omnichannel. For what I call non-omnichannel ecommerce – meaning more traditional ecommerce players, like big shopping cart players and more direct ecommerce retailers –, we have just launched HPX. This hosted payment extensibility layer is designed to give ecommerce retailers a new level of orchestration. HPX gives us a new way to compete for ecommerce-first merchants with limited in-store presence. This is the inverse of our model today, which is focused on in-store but done in an omnichannel way. By flipping the model to serve this segment of merchants heavily focused on ecommerce but also requiring in-store support, we target an area that a lot of providers don’t serve that well, which is why we see this as a strong growth driver for us over the next three to five years.

Let’s talk about AI – how do you see AI transforming payments?

I don’t think AI is going to change the mechanics of payments. In the end, an agent still needs a funding source, and for most shoppers, that means a card on file. Additionally, since consumers don’t think about the world like payment operators or merchants, they will most likely instruct their agents to use the payment method that maximises their benefits, not the one that minimises merchant cost. So, while AI may impact how consumers shop, it won’t necessarily change why or how they pay.

What does change is risk management. An autonomous agent makes purchases on the customer’s behalf, so fraud controls shift toward adaptive two-factor approaches reminiscent of 3D Secure. The real challenge is managing fraud involving agents, without disturbing the consumer experience. At the end of the day, consumers don’t care about payment flow complexities; they just expect their payment to go through without issues.

What is your big bet for change in the payments industry in 2026?

We will continue to see a lot of utility in stablecoins. That said, I believe most of that activity will remain focused on cross-border settlement. For consumers, stablecoin adoption will hinge on incentives, not merchant economics. Regulation is also catching up, with the recently passed GENIUS Act imposing a KYC regime around stablecoin or cryptocurrency payments and slowing the ‘fast and loose’ era, but laying a foundation for scale.

For 2026, I expect slow, steady change. Businesses and providers will try to dial in the model by figuring out what they need to do and what incentives must be in place to drive real payment steering. That’s going to be a challenge, and I don’t expect a lot of groundbreaking innovation beyond refinements of the model.

This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Global Ecommerce Report 2026, which provides a complete overview of key trends and strategies to help businesses worldwide succeed. Download your free copy today to explore in-depth insights on global ecommerce trends, the latest innovations in payment solutions, and strategies to stay ahead in a competitive market.

About the author

Chris Kronenthal is an expert in the payments industry. He leverages his extensive experience to enhance FreedomPay’s software development processes and compliance solutions. He is recognised for his expertise in managing and architecting global, integrated solutions and omnichannel environments.

Chris joined FreedomPay in 2008, and as President, is responsible for the company’s global technology, product, operations, compliance, and sales functions. With more than a decade of international experience in diverse industries with a strong focus on compliance and infrastructure, Chris provides Fortune 500 companies with solutions that drive global commerce connectivity and payment security.

About FreedomPay

FreedomPay is a leader in Next Level Commerce™ – transforming the way businesses power payments and experiences across the world. More than a payment solution, FreedomPay is an independent payment gateway engineered to simplify complexity, break down the barriers of legacy systems, and revolutionise every point of interaction – whether in-store, online, or mobile. Chosen by brands across retail, hospitality, sports and entertainment, food service, healthcare, and higher education, FreedomPay delivers technology strength, integration breadth, and deep expertise in global payments innovation.