The future is frictionless: Trends driving innovation in merchant services

From rising customer expectations and the complexity of payment systems to the need for faster access to funds, merchants today face no shortage of challenges. The requirements necessary to run their businesses demands simplicity in a complex space, speed without sacrificing security and solutions that are flexible enough to scale with their growth.

In a recent interview with Merchant Services leaders at Deluxe, they lift the curtain on how their team is on a mission to solve pain points in the merchant experience. With an experienced team and a customer-first mindset, Deluxe is focused on simplifying the payment experience, accelerating speed to revenue, and expanding its impact across key verticals.

How a strong foundation drives a growing future

Deluxe entered 2025 with a strong foundation—a robust product suite, a loyal and growing customer base and a dedicated team ready to drive transformation.

“I’m excited about the fact that we already have a wonderful business in place,” shared Brian Mahony, newly elected President of Merchant Services at Deluxe. “There’s so much growth potential in this business, and I’m excited to work with the team to bring that growth to life.”

This optimism is grounded in Deluxe’s ability to work across its diverse portfolio of businesses to unlock new value.

“There’s lots of opportunity for us to work across our businesses and to unlock more value for our customers and partners,” Mahony added.

A competitive landscape demands simplicity

The merchant services industry continues to boom, evidenced by global market projections of $80 billion by 2033.

“It’s very competitive, very fast paced – it’s always changing,” said Michael Bradford, Executive VP of Operations at Deluxe. “We have found that, in order to be successful, we need to be hyper-focused on solving merchants’ needs.”

One of the most pressing needs? Simplicity.

“Although it's a complex industry, our job is to make it as simple as possible for them to accept payments,” Bradford explained. Whether it’s a traditional retail store or a nonprofit organization, merchants require payment partners who can cut through the complexity and deliver solutions that work. And with the goal of turning pain points into progress, the team at Deluxe is well on its way to conquering that objective.

Meeting merchants where they are — and where they’re going

Deluxe’s product roadmap reflects what today’s merchants value most: flexibility, speed and frictionless customer experiences.

“We definitely have a product mentality and a product focus,” Bradford continued. “We are investing more and more in our products in 2025 to help satisfy our customers’ needs.”

This year, Deluxe introduced dlxPAY, a mobile solution for merchants needing to accept payments on the go. The dlxPAY app offers secure payments by accepting contactless and EMV chip card transactions; it can also provide real-time insights, allowing merchants the ability to track sales, manage inventory and view reports from their smartphone.

Other enhanced mobile capabilities have been rolled out already this year, including Tap-to-Pay functionality, allowing merchants to use their mobile device or an NFC-enabled card reader to accept payments with a simple tap.

Looking at the product roadmap ahead, real-time payments are next on the horizon.

“Later in 2025, our merchants will be able to accept and receive payments in real time, as well as get their settlement dollars in real time,” Bradford shared. “The ability to receive their deposits faster improves their cash flow and gets their speed to revenue much faster.”

In the merchant world, faster payments are a real game changer. More and more, businesses are using real-time payments to help improve liquidity and reduce cost. And with 68 of percent businesses planning to adopt instant payments over the next two years, merchants are gaining more control over cash flow — and more confidence in growth.

Building a merchant future, together

Deluxe’s strategy for merchant services is clear: simplify the complex, invest in innovation and deliver exceptional experiences across industries. With the combination of strong leadership, a powerful product roadmap and a passion for customer success, Deluxe is positioned not just to follow industry trends — but to lead them.

“The future is there for us to write together,” Bradford concluded. And at Deluxe, the pen is already in motion.