Hong Kong retailers face mounting payment and fraud pressures as Singles' Day marks the start of the peak shopping season, according to new consumer and merchant research from payments company Adyen.

The findings suggest checkout performance and fraud prevention are becoming central concerns for retailers handling heavy transaction volumes across Singles' Day, Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year.

More than half of consumers surveyed, or 51%, said they wanted a seamless shopping experience across online and in-store channels. Another 45% said they expected real-time product visibility before visiting a shop, reflecting demand for retailers to better connect stock information and customer journeys.

The figures point to a broader expectation of consistency across digital and physical retail. Those expectations become more visible during periods of intense seasonal demand, when high traffic can expose weaknesses in payment systems and fulfilment processes.

The research also highlighted how payment errors can quickly affect customer behaviour. Among consumers surveyed, 12% said they would switch to a competitor immediately after a payment issue at checkout.

Women were more likely than men to abandon a purchase altogether after an error, at 29% compared with 22%. Younger shoppers were also less tolerant, with 36% of Gen Z saying payment errors damaged their perception of a brand, compared with 22% of Gen X.

On the merchant side, every retailer surveyed said they had been affected by payment performance issues. About 36% said they had lost sales because of failed or slow transactions, 31% cited in-store queue abandonment, and 26% pointed to abandoned online checkouts.

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