Splitit CEO Says Card-Linked Payments Can Save AI Sales
Splitit CEO warns that traditional BNPL friction will kill AI-driven sales, pushing card-linked installments as the solution for automated shopping.
Curated by Financing Your Way from original reporting by PYMNTS. Summary is AI-assisted and editorially reviewed — see our editorial standards.
AI agents are moving beyond simple chatbots to become active shoppers that make buying decisions for customers. This shift creates a massive hurdle for traditional checkout flows. Most payment systems require human intervention, such as multi-factor authentication or manual CVV entry. Splitit CEO Nandan Sheth argues that card-linked installments are the solution for this 'agentic' commerce. For retailers, this means traditional Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) models that require a new loan application at every checkout will fail in an AI-driven world. An AI agent cannot easily apply for a new loan mid-transaction. Card-linked installments work differently. They use the customer's existing credit line. This allows for pre-authorization. The payment can be split into interest-free monthly chunks automatically. Adopting this technology allows your business to capture 'invisible' sales. As consumers delegate more tasks to AI assistants, your checkout process must be frictionless for software, not just humans. Moving to a card-based installment model ensures that automated transactions don't get declined due to security friction. It keeps your conversion rates high as the shopping experience shifts from screens to background algorithms.
Source: PYMNTS
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