Once seen as a back-end utility, payments are now central to customer experience and brand differentiation, with innovations like BNPL and embedded finance reshaping how consumers interact with retailers. Video game commerce firm Xsolla is partnering with Affirm to bring BNPL to video game storefronts. The move shows that retailers large and small, digital and brick-and-mortar, are embracing embedded finance and the potential of payments as a lever for growth. Payments are moving from a stealth driver of customer loyalty to a front-and-center strategy for customer retention and lifetime value extraction. This shift is driving greater investment in payment orchestration platforms, tokenization and customer vaulting systems, allowing merchants to deliver a seamless experience while unlocking deeper insights into purchase behavior. Outside of owning the customer relationship end-to-end, another reason retailers are turning to payments as a growth lever is due to data. By consolidating payment rails and unifying back-end systems, retailers can achieve a 360-degree view of the customer. This deep insight allows retailers to understand customer segments, such as whether they should be classified as a “luxury buyer” or a “budget buyer,” and to identify patterns including cart abandonment or cross-category spending. With the convergence of data, customer experience, FinTech innovation and loyalty programs, retailer-driven payments optionality and financial services are emerging not just as a function of commerce, but as a fundamental enabler of brand differentiation and revenue expansion.