The peak season confidence gap
Why enterprise retailers feel ready for their biggest season, and why the data says otherwise
Nuvei asked 150 enterprise retail leaders how ready their payments really are for peak season. Almost nine in ten told us their infrastructure is not ready for it.
Respondents150 enterprise retail leaders
Saw payments fall short89%
Questions to explore26
What we found
In 2026, retail leaders are preparing harder than ever for the holiday season, and put more of that work into payments than into any other part of the business.
93%
of retail leaders say the holiday season drives between 11 and 40 percent of their annual revenue
79%
of retail leaders put a large share of their holiday preparation into payment readiness
Top 5 takeaways from the study
89%say their payment infrastructure fell short last holiday season, even with payments as their top priority.77%say their checkout is fully optimized, yet most still saw payments fail. Confidence is running ahead of the evidence.70%name declined transactions as the top cause of abandoned purchases, ahead of checkout design.1%automatically recover a failed payment. For everyone else, a decline is where the sale ends.47%say their biggest barrier is not knowing which approach to take, not budget or technology.