Why do customers still abandon at checkout when they’ve already chosen the product?

By displaying instalment amounts on the product page before the customer reaches checkout, flexible payments shift the hesitation point from the payment step to the consideration phase, where it’s easier to resolve. And merchants using Riverty’s Payment Method Elements see AOV increases of up to 23% when payment options are surfaced at the product level.

Is H&G really that different from other retail categories?

H&G has some of the highest average basket values in e-commerce – often €500–€2,500 for items like garden furniture, appliances, or outdoor kitchen sets. At these price points, customers require more consideration time and are more sensitive to upfront payment requirements. Optimising the payment experience has an outsized impact compared to lower-AOV categories.

What’s actually causing the drop-off – the product or the price?

Cart abandonment at high basket values is often driven by payment friction rather than product uncertainty. When customers can split a €1,200 purchase into three equal instalments, the psychological barrier to completing the purchase is significantly reduced – without requiring the merchant to discount.

What’s the actual AOV uplift, and where does it come from?

Yes. Merchants offering part payments see average order value increases of up to 20%. When payment options are specifically surfaced on the product page (via Riverty’s Payment Method Elements widget), the AOV uplift reaches 23%. These are distinct figures: the first reflects the general impact of part payments; the second reflects the product page placement specifically.

Does it matter where in the journey you show payment options?

At the product page, not just at checkout. Displaying instalment messaging below the item price – at the point of consideration – gives customers the information they need to commit before they reach the payment step. This is the key mechanism behind higher AOV in H&G.

What happens if the customer doesn’t complete their repayment plan?

Choose a payment partner that assumes credit and non-payment risk on your behalf. With guaranteed merchant settlement, your revenue is not contingent on consumer repayment behaviour. Dispute management and collections support also reduce the operational overhead that high-AOV retail generates – particularly for large, bulky items with complex return logistics.

The €300 Problem: Boost Conversion in Home & Garden

This is the conversion problem specific to Home & Garden – and it’s one that many conversion rate optimisation strategies fail to address. It's not solved by better photography, faster load times, or a discount code at checkout. It’s a payment structure problem; one that conversion rate optimisation, done properly, can fix.

Why H&G has a conversion rate optimisation problem other verticals don’t

Fashion merchants worry about size uncertainty; electronics merchants deal with feature comparison. Home & Garden merchants deal with something different: the weight of a considered purchase, at a price point that demands more than impulse.

A robot lawnmower at €1,200. An outdoor kitchen at €1,800. A complete lounge set at €2,400. Nobody clicks buy on those without thinking about it first. Shoppers know it, and so they stall.

The result is a specific kind of abandonment: high-intent customers who have already done the research, already chosen the product, and still don’t complete. The consideration is there, and the intention is there, but the friction is at the payment step.This is where checkout optimization alone often falls short.

Most merchants respond with promotions: seasonal sales, percentage-off banners, loyalty credits. Short-term volume, compressed margin – the better solution doesn’t touch your pricing. Instead, it focuses on payment flexibility and flexible payment options that help customers move forward with confidence.

Flexible payments as a conversion tool, not a checkout feature

Payment flexibility – specifically, the ability to split a purchase into manageable instalments – addresses the stall point directly. It doesn’t change the price; it changes the psychological weight of committing to it.

Think of it as the €300 problem: the point at which a purchase starts to feel less like an everyday transaction and more like a financial commitment. For many Home & Garden shoppers, the challenge isn't whether they want the product, but whether the upfront payment feels manageable in that moment.

Merchants offering part payments see average order value increases of up to 20%. But the timing of when payment options are surfaced matters as much as whether they’re offered at all.

When flexible payment options are displayed on the product page, not just at checkout, AOV increases by 23%. Showing a customer €1,200 as three payments of €400 at the point of consideration reframes the decision before hesitation sets in. By the time they reach checkout, the psychological commitment is already made.

Flexible payments aren’t a checkout option – they’re a conversion optimisation layer.

After the sale

H&G merchants who’ve tried BNPL before often come away with a mixed view. Conversion improved, but everything else got harder. Returns, disputes, customer service overhead – the backend complexity of high-AOV, large-format retail doesn’t disappear just because the sale went through.

This is where it’s worth looking at the quality of sales that part payments generate, not just the volume. Customers who split payments are more deliberate buyers – they’ve committed to a repayment plan, and are less likely to make an impulsive decision they immediately regret. Return rates for instalment purchases in H&G are measurably lower than for single-payment equivalents.

The dispute picture is similar: A garden furniture dispute (delivery damage on a €900 item, a sizing discrepancy on a built set) is expensive and time-consuming to resolve. With the right payment provider, dispute management is a shared problem, not a merchant-side cost centre. That matters when your average return involves a two-person delivery and a warehouse re-intake.

The right payment setup changes the composition of your sales – towards buyers who cost less to serve post-purchase.

The same logic applies beyond returns, disputes and customer support. As flexible payments become a bigger part of the Home & Garden buying journey, merchants also need confidence that the operational and regulatory foundations behind those payment products are built to last. That's increasingly relevant as new regulation reshapes the BNPL market across Europe.

What CCD2 means for H&G merchants evaluating BNPL partners

From November 2026, the Consumer Credit Directive 2 (CCD2) brings all in-scope BNPL products under formal regulation across the EU. For Dutch merchants, this means any BNPL provider operating Pay-in-3 or equivalent products in the Netherlands must comply with BKR registration requirements, advertising restrictions, mandatory age verification, and late payment cost caps.

Most merchants evaluating BNPL partnerships are underestimating what this transition requires from their provider. The compliance burden doesn’t fall on the merchant directly, but it does determine which providers will still be operating their products reliably after November 2026, and which will be rebuilding integrations mid-flight.

Choosing a BNPL partner now means factoring in not just who has the best conversion stats, but who is already operating within the CCD2 framework – so you’re not inheriting their compliance problem later.

Making the commercial case internally

For most H&G e-commerce leads, adding flexible payments is not a solo decision. It requires sign-off from finance, a conversation with the platform or payments team, and usually a pilot period with projected returns.

The commercial argument is cleaner than it might look. A single API integration gives access to both interest-free and interest-bearing plans; the right option is served automatically based on order value and merchant configuration. Settlement is guaranteed upfront; Riverty assumes all credit and non-payment risk, so your cash flow doesn’t depend on whether the consumer completes their repayment plan. And the product page integration – the element that drives the 23% AOV uplift – is just a few lines of code.

Every week without flexible payment options at the product page is a week of high-intent customers who reached the consideration point and didn’t convert.

From checkout feature to conversion strategy

Flexible payments have moved from a nice-to-have to a structural conversion lever, particularly in a category where the hesitation point is financial rather than functional.

For H&G merchants, the opportunity is specific: surface payment flexibility at the product page, before checkout, at the moment a customer is deciding whether 890 € feels manageable. Get that right, and you’re not just improving conversion rate optimisation metrics – you’re changing the quality of your sales pipeline.

The merchants gaining AOV in 2026 are not the ones running the deepest promotions. They’re the ones who stopped making 300 € feel like a big decision.