Urban Outfitters Owner URBN and Stripe Announce a Payments Partnership

Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform, has announced a new payments partnership with retail group URBN, the owner of popular brands such as Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, and FP Movement, as highlighted in PYMNTS.

The collaboration aims to provide customers with a more consistent checkout experience, both online and in-person, across URBN’s retail brands. Dave Hayne, URBN’s chief technology officer, emphasized the importance of payments in the customer experience, stating, «Payments are a critical link between our brands and millions of URBN customers who expect checkouts to be as easy as trying on an outfit or adding items to a cart.»

URBN will consolidate the majority of its North American payments volume onto Stripe, which is expected to result in higher authorizations, improved reliability, and more precise data analytics. The partnership will also enable URBN to leverage Stripe’s technology for future payments innovation.

Key components of the partnership include the adoption of Stripe Terminal as URBN’s primary in-store checkout option in North America, as well as the use of Link and Stripe Financial Connections to facilitate online payments with bank accounts. Additionally, URBN plans to implement Stripe’s optimized checkout suite to display the most relevant payment methods to customers based on various factors such as device type, location, and language.

Eileen O’Mara, Stripe’s chief revenue officer, highlighted the importance of providing an easy checkout experience for customers, stating, «Shoppers expect an easy checkout experience and businesses want high authorization rates. We’re thrilled our partnership will enable both for URBN.»

Research conducted by PYMNTS Intelligence indicates that 50% of consumers consider the ease of a merchant’s checkout process when deciding where to shop. This underscores the importance for businesses to streamline their checkout processes to attract more customers and improve competitiveness in the online market.

Moreover, a study titled «How Preferred Payment Availability Can Reduce Cart Abandonment,» a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence and Adobe, found that 70% of shoppers view the availability of their preferred payment method as very or extremely influential when determining which online merchant to purchase from.

The partnership between Stripe and URBN represents a strategic move to enhance the payment experience for URBN customers, while also driving business growth through improved payment infrastructure and customer satisfaction.