Loyalty’s definition changes with generations, but one thing is certain: For a company to survive in the modern age, its loyalty strategy must begin with payments.
Gr4vy helps foster that loyalty. Founded by three-decade payment industry veteran John Lunn, Gr4vy helps merchants simplify fragmented payment infrastructures with a cloud-native platform designed for flexibility and scale.
Lunn knows a thing or two about payment trends. From the late 1990s to mid-2000s, he was technology director at early paytech Cybersource. Later, he was PayPal’s fourth hire in EMEA. Lunn also held a senior position at Braintree and launched PayPal Ventures.
Three decades into his career, Lunn is back in the startup world and for good reason – he saw a need.
“There is all this cool payment technology out there, and the adoption rate has been so slow,” Lunn observed. “You look at Venmo when PayPal bought them nine years ago, and it’s not really on many merchant sites right now. You don’t see it as a standard checkout option, and it struck me. I was investing in all these companies around the world, really cool innovations, but the adoption was slow. So I looked into it, thinking, ‘Where’s the problem there?’”
The problem begins when someone in a payments team adds a payment method. A few months later, another one is selected. Before long, teams have to integrate multiple systems while ensuring accountability and a smooth user experience.
That combination of multiple options and smooth UX is crucial today, as Lunn said the payment experience is a key loyalty driver. Back in the day, folks were enticed by merchants offering points and miles. Older generations still are, but the younger ones seek something else.
Trust is a strong motivator. Younger generations have been shaped by multiple financial crises and a pandemic; they’re attracted to those brands they can trust. Risk aversion is another factor; that’s a key attraction of BNPL.
But they’re also used to high-quality, instantaneous service. That loyalty is fostered by a smooth, friction-free shopping and checkout experience, but also by the ability to pay with their preferred method.
What if a merchant doesn’t know what those preferred methods are? How can they find that out?
Lunn thought of that, too. Gr4vy allows customers to compare different payment methods’ effectiveness. Which groups choose which methods? Which methods cost the most?
The results often change depending on the size of the bill. Should the merchant offer certain payment methods only within certain price points? With Gr4vy, they can conduct trials to answer those questions.
“I think that a lot of merchants love the fact that they can experiment,” Lunn said. “They could try new things with our platform and see if it works before they’re all in.”
How agentic AI will challenge payment and loyalty logic
Agentic payments will challenge traditional payment logic in several ways. The evolution from card-not-present to merchant-not-present to human-not-present raises many questions.
What does trust mean? Traditionally, the brand on the card was good enough for both parties. Now, shoppers must program agents with a list of parameters around prices, items, frequency and other concerns. Merchants need assurances that the agent is truly acting on behalf of the customer and not a fraudster. For this new system to work, both sides must come together.
“It’s basically an all-new level of negotiations that happen even before you’re allowed to shop, or the merchant will even talk to you,” Lunn said. “And the merchants also have to show trust. They have to prove that they are a real merchant, they exist, they’re not a fake spoof site set up, and that they are authorized to do business.
“That whole level is a new challenge, but it’s also quite exciting.”
Hopefully, Jeff Bezos thinks so, because it’s going to change e-commerce, too. AI won’t buy from Amazon unless it’s the lowest price. The meaning of branding drastically changes.
“All you’re doing is distribution, and distribution is now happening somewhere else,” Lunn said. “For a brand, it’s really scary because there’s no place to talk about your brand. All of the good work you’ve done on ‘shop with us because you recognize our color scheme and you recognize our logo,’ and all the rest of it that doesn’t exist; that’s gone.
“It’s going to come down to who’s got the best product information about the product that you want. Who’s got the best price and who can service it to you first in your in your AI model.”
Retailers now have to contend with ensuring they’re discoverable. What happens if AI runs amok? Who is responsible?
Lunn’s also thought of that. Customers can access different protocols in a sandbox environment and experiment to see what works best. Test at certain price points or purchase frequencies. Such guardrails offer protection and assurance.
“That’s the most important thing to do right now, because whoever’s first is going to win this race,” Lunn said.
Agentic payments are coming faster than you think
Think you still have plenty of time to prepare for agentic payments? Think again. Lunn expects agentic payments to account for a high-single-digit or low-double-digit percentage of purchases in 2026.
Disagree? Watch your kids, and maybe you’ll reconsider.
Who will be disrupted first? Many of those reliant on e-commerce, for starters. When the agent shops for shoes, it only cares about a few select factors. History means nothing. Brand means nothing.
Lunn turns to AI to plan his vacations. It will quickly find the cheapest routes and stopovers, and will scour all sites, not just select ones. Event ticket purchases will also change. While folks still want the experience of shopping for the right Gucci bag, they’re fine with turning over the TP purchase to a computer.
Tokenization has an important role to play with Agentic AI. Lunn said many have focused on replacing saved-data card schemes with tokens that are one-use or merchant-specific.
“What you don’t want is agents passing around your 16-digit number around the Internet,” Lunn cautioned. “This agent has this token that allows it to track for me on this merchant, and only there. It can’t go and buy something random from somewhere else.
“That sounds boring, but it’s super important to keep this whole system running.”