Adyen bets on unified commerce to help carry H2 2021 growth

By the numbers: Netherlands-based acquirer and payment gateway Adyen reported €300 billion ($355 billion) in processed volume in H2 2021—a 72% year over year (YoY) surge, per its shareholder letter. Growth accelerated from H1 2021’s 67% increase.

• Adyen’s point-of-sale (POS) volume growth, which composes 14% of its total processed volume, nearly doubled (+97% YoY) in the second half of last year, in line with H1 2021’s growth.
• Net revenues jumped 43% YoY, coming in at €556.5 million ($658 million). Revenue growth decelerated slightly from H1 (46% YoY).

How we got here: The firm said ecommerce trends helped drive business growth. Global ecommerce sales grew 16.3% YoY in 2021, nearing $5 trillion, per eMarketer forecasts from Insider Intelligence.

• For the first time, the share of Adyen’s net revenues from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America combined was more than 40%. Net revenues from North America alone grew 74%.
• The company also said more than 80% of its volume growth came from existing merchants, in line with previous periods. Adyen said its churn rate was below 1%.

What’s next? Adyen is strengthening its unified commerce capabilities, something merchants will be increasingly interested in as they look to combine in-store and online processing.

• Last month, Adyen launched an mPOS offering in the EU, the UK, and the US. The “all-in-one” solution lets merchants accept all major payment types (including contactless) and also offers an app management feature that lets merchants use third-party business apps.
• “We now see our customers structurally changing their businesses and technology stacks to embrace unified commerce and this newfound urgency for digital transformation,” Adyen’s North America head, Brian Dammeir, said in the shareholder letter.
• Clients who currently only use Adyen’s online tools can use the mPOS solution to capture in-store volume as well—a big monetization opportunity for Adyen. This year, non-ecommerce retail sales are expected to hit $5.559 trillion in the US alone, per our forecasts, and Adyen can use mPOS to grab a piece of that pie.
• Adyen’s mPOS solution can also attract small-business customers, which might help diversify its client and revenue mix: About 97.5% of Adyen’s volume in H2 2021 came from enterprise customers.

Related content: Check out the “Participants in the Payments Purchasing Chain” section of our Payments Ecosystem 2022 report collection to learn more about how unified commerce will be a key focus for providers this year.