Increase average order value through payment flexibility

The most direct route is making it easier for customers to complete the full basket they’ve already built. In beauty, customers frequently add items that form a whole routine—cleanser, serum, moisturiser, SPF—and then hesitate at checkout when the total amount feels like a large upfront commitment. Offering flexible payment options, with instalment amounts shown clearly at the product page and cart stage, removes that hesitation. Riverty merchant data from German beauty clients shows that average order values were around 16% higher following a BNPL option, mainly because the payment experience gave customers enough confidence to go ahead and complete the order, rather than because they were about to spend more than they intended. 

Payment flexibility works psychologically as much as financially. When a customer sees that an €87 basket can become three payments of €29, the purchase feels much more manageable, as well as proportional to their confidence in a brand they may be trying for the first time. This framing doesn’t change the price or the affordability of the basket total—it changes how feasible the commitment feels. Research consistently shows that having a BNPL option increases the likelihood of payment completion because instalment framing reduces the perceived risk of a larger or unfamiliar purchase. The result is a higher completed basket value, with no discounting required.

Cart abandonment in beauty and personal care exceeds 82%. And most of it happens at the payment stage, not earlier. Customers who reach checkout have already researched, compared, and decided what they want. They leave because the payment experience doesn’t meet their expectations: the preferred payment method isn’t available, the full amount feels too large to commit to upfront, or the checkout process introduces uncertainty at exactly the moment it should feel easy and straightforward. In markets like Germany and the Netherlands, where payment flexibility has become a baseline expectation, a checkout without it gives customers a good reason to shop elsewhere.

Checkout is the moment a customer puts financial trust in a brand, potentially for the first time. How the experience feels shapes their perception of that brand long after the products arrive. A smooth, transparent checkout—clear payment options, no hidden terms, communication that continues after the sale—signals that the brand has thought about the customer’s experience at the most critical point in the journey. 

Riverty merchant data shows returning customer rates improve by around 20% for beauty merchants that implement payment flexibility. A checkout experience that builds confidence tends to bring people back; one that creates doubt tends not to.

For beauty merchants using installment plans, the customer relationship doesn’t end at checkout—it continues for as long as the payment plan runs. Every instalment reminder, every communication about what’s due and when, is a brand interaction. Customers who find that process clear and well-managed come to associate the brand with reliability. Those who feel uncertain about their payment schedule, or have to follow up on a refund themselves, carry that friction into their decision about whether to buy from the same merchant again. Post-purchase communication is not as obvious a lever as marketing, but its effect on repeat purchase behaviour is just as important.

CLV in beauty is driven by repeat purchase behaviour, and repeat purchase behaviour is shaped by the quality of every interaction—from checkout through to how payment and communication are handled in the weeks that follow. The economics are straightforward: customer acquisition in beauty ecommerce is expensive, and the return on that investment is only realised over time and future multiple orders. A payment experience that helps a first-time buyer complete their purchase, feel confident about how they’ve paid, and trust the brand enough to come back to buy from them again is one of the most direct levers available for improving CLV—without ever touching the product range or the acquisition strategy.