Software providers have less room than ever to assume merchants will stay put.

For the second year in a row, more than 60% of merchants say they have an appetite for switching platforms. In 2025, that figure stood at 62%, up from 55% in 2023, according to the 2026 Merchant Insider Report, which surveyed more than 1,500 businesses across Australia, the UK and the US.

Software providers need to understand what causes businesses to reconsider their current platform and what gives them a reason to stay.

Payment satisfaction is the #1 reason businesses are unlikely to switch software providers.

For platforms, payments are a key indicator of whether merchants feel supported enough to stay or frustrated enough to look elsewhere.

Switching triggers point to stagnation, friction and poor fit more than any single product gap.

The report also found that 25% of likely switchers mention bad customer experiences using payment capabilities.

Together, these findings show how operational frustrations become switching triggers. When software takes too much time to manage, integrations fall short and payment experiences frustrate customers, the platform may no longer fit the business.

That is where platforms begin to lose ground. Not because one feature is missing, but because the overall experience feels harder than it should.

When the payment experience is reliable, easy to manage and well-integrated, it reinforces the value of the platform around it. Payments support the way merchants work.

The platforms winning merchants are making payment capabilities feel current, useful and native to everyday workflows.

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