• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

3

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics

3

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
FinanceGlobal Payments

This Dutch payments firm is a proxy for retail’s shift to ‘omnichannel’ commerce

Jeremy Kahn
By
Jeremy Kahn
Jeremy Kahn
Editor, AI
Down Arrow Button Icon
Jeremy Kahn
By
Jeremy Kahn
Jeremy Kahn
Editor, AI
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 20, 2021, 10:00 AM ET

For investors looking to play the pandemic’s acceleration of “omnichannel” shopping, payments provider Adyen might be as close as it comes to a sure bet.

The Dutch company rose to prominence as the preferred online payments processor for many of the world’s biggest digital-first brands, from Facebook and Uber to Netflix and eBay. Since then, it has increasingly won over traditional retailers, becoming their payments solution not just for e-commerce but for in-store transactions too.

“We are gaining market share in what is probably a shrinking market, but it is a huge market,” Ingo Uytdehaage, Adyen’s chief financial officer, said of the company’s in-store payment terminals.

In fact, the company’s growth is a useful proxy for the progress retailers are making toward integrating online and brick-and-mortar commerce. And Adyen’s business is booming: Yesterday it reported payment volumes of $252 billion in the first half of 2021, a 67% increase on the same period during the depths of the pandemic in 2020. Of that, Adyen’s cut amounted to $519 million, on which it made $318 million in Ebitda profits—an eye-popping gross profit margin of 61%.

Already a darling of the European fintech scene, the company’s shares surged more than 8% since the earnings figures were announced yesterday. And they are up almost 40% so far this year.

Companies were already talking about integrating their online and in-store technology systems before the pandemic. But COVID-19 persuaded many businesses to radically accelerate this merger, Adyen’s Uytdehaage tells Fortune.

With physical stores shuttered due to lockdowns, sales simply had to shift online. To save costs, companies closed physical locations—permanently, in many cases. Now, while some high-traffic stores may be open again, brands are increasingly viewing their physical outlets as marketing channels: Carrying less stock, they are asking customers to browse in-person but buy online, even from right in the shop.

Companies need to be able to track and serve those customers as they move seamlessly from the shop floor to a mobile browser or a desktop at home. And, Uytdehaage says, Adyen is the only payments software backbone that can support this kind of “unified commercial” experience across hundreds of different geographies and payment methods. That offering has enabled Adyen to add LVMH and the Body Shop to its roster of customers in 2021.

Despite lockdowns in many regions and countries, the company saw its point-of-sale payment volumes for the first half of 2021 double year on year to $26.6 billion. They now make up 11% of the company’s total processed volume.

Adyen also offers a good way to keep tabs on several other trends as economies begin to recover from the depths of the pandemic. For instance, Uytdehaage says that Adyen can clearly see the growing popularity of buy-now, pay-later checkout options online, especially in key markets such as the U.S.

The Adyen CFO also says the rebound in the travel industry, which had been a key vertical for Adyen prior to the pandemic, is clearly evident.

“Domestic flights in the U.S. [have] returned not to normalcy but to higher levels than during the pandemic,” he said. “And we see OTA—online travel agency—volumes are starting to pick up again.”

He said that travel volumes during the last week in June were at the same level as they had been during the first week of the pandemic.

Subscribe to Fortune Daily to get essential business stories straight to your inbox each morning.

About the Author
Jeremy Kahn
By Jeremy KahnEditor, AI
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jeremy Kahn is the AI editor at Fortune, spearheading the publication's coverage of artificial intelligence. He also co-authors Eye on AI, Fortune’s flagship AI newsletter.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

elon
SuccessIPOs
SpaceX IPO targets $28.5 trillion total addressable market, mission to ‘make life multiplanetary’ and understand ‘true nature of the universe’
By Nick LichtenbergMay 20, 2026
4 minutes ago
Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia
AINvidia
Nvidia gets tepid reaction to forecast, boosts investor rewards
By Ian King and BloombergMay 20, 2026
26 minutes ago
SpaceX finally files IPO prospectus, reveals revenue is up–but losses are too
Big TechSpaceX
SpaceX finally files IPO prospectus, reveals revenue is up–but losses are too
By Allie GarfinkleMay 20, 2026
36 minutes ago
Elon Musk sits with his fists together, looking up.
Commentaryspace
SpaceX will be worth trillions, but the space station that made it possible is worth even more — if we don’t squander it
By Tejpaul BhatiaMay 20, 2026
49 minutes ago
Clinical Psychologist Daniel Wendler
ConferencesWorkplace Innovation Summit
A ‘proudly autistic’ workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
By Tristan BoveMay 20, 2026
2 hours ago
Hiba Mona Anver, wearing a black and white striped dress, gestures with her hands as she speaks onstage.
North AmericaWorkplace Innovation Summit
80% of companies have an immigrant in a top leadership role—Trump’s visa crackdown is forcing them to make a ‘plan C,’ warns immigration expert
By Sasha RogelbergMay 20, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
1 day ago
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Future of Work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
3 days ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
8 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 19, 2026
1 day ago
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
Travel & Leisure
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
By Rio Yamat and The Associated PressMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of silver as of Tuesday,  May 19, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, May 19, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 19, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.