// NEWS //
Majority of UK SMEs turn to AI to tackle hidden payment losses
UK SMEs are losing an average of £ 159,500 per year due to failed payments, abandoned checkouts and paymentrelated customer churn – creating a‘ hidden revenue gap’ worth hundreds of millions across the UK economy.
According to new independent research by Access PaySuite, which surveyed 250 UK SME finance and payments decisionmakers, the scale of payment-related revenue loss is significant.
It revealed that 3.4 % of all payment transactions fail on average, with 55.8 % never recovered and that nearly 50 % have lost customers to checkout abandonment.
Despite the sheer size of the problem, many businesses lack a clear, consolidated view of where and why revenue is being lost. Instead, finance teams are often forced to download spreadsheets, manually interrogate data and piece together insights across fragmented systems.
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that 95 % of UK businesses say they are evaluating, planning to implement or interested in AIdriven systems to reduce payment-related revenue leakage.
In response to growing demand for clearer oversight, Access PaySuite has launched a new unified AI embedded payments platform, designed to give businesses greater visibility into payment performance and revenue risk.
Rather than requiring teams to manipulate raw data, the platform enables businesses to leverage the built in AI to manage their payments, cutting through data to deliver immediate insights and business value to teams.
By bringing multiple payment methods into a unified environment, Access PaySuite helps businesses reduce friction, improve customer choice and minimise avoidable revenue loss.
Search demand surges for experience-led and lifestyle-focused businesses
New search trend analysis by AnyBusiness has revealed a major rise in consumer interest around a new wave of lifestyle-led businesses, with reformer Pilates, dog cafés, vintage shops and matcha cafés among the concepts seeing some of the strongest online demand.
The review of 10 fast-rising business types, based on five-year Glimpse search data, suggests consumers are increasingly gravitating towards businesses that offer more than just a product, with experience, identity, community and visual appeal all helping to drive interest.
Among the standout performers, reformer Pilates recorded 2 million searches in the past month, up 54 % year-on-year, while Pilates studio searches reached 905,000, rising 58 % over the same period.
Meanwhile, food and drink concepts with a more premium or trend-led feel are also gaining momentum. Matcha café searches hit 365,000 in the past month, rising 128 % year-onyear, while bubble tea shop searches reached 47,000, up 53 %. Searches for dessert cafés were smaller overall at 9,000, but surged by an eye-catching 1,547 % year-on-year.
Animal-led café concepts also remain in demand, with cat café searches reaching 1.2 million in the past month, up 11 % year-onyear, while dog café searches climbed to 605,000, rising 28 %.
Other experience-led businesses also saw notable growth. Vintage shop searches reached 637,000, up 36 % year-on-year, while mocktail bar searches hit 23,000, increasing 27 %. Rage rooms also showed continued momentum, recording 72,000 monthly searches and rising 19 % over the past quarter. �
12 Intelligent SME. tech