-
72 minutes is the average duration of a payment system outage in France vs 6 minutes the acceptable wait time for customers.
-
69% of retail and hospitality managers report verbal abuse or threatening behavior from customers during outages.
-
43% of French businesses lacking a dependable digital backup solution beyond cash.
Paris, September 16th – FreedomPay, one of the fastest growing payment tech companies, announced the release of its new report, “Payment Resilience in an Uncertain World: France.” Conducted in partnership with Retail Economics, the comprehensive study unveils the staggering financial and human impact of payment system outages on the French retail and hospitality sectors.
Based on surveys of 2,000 French adults and 250 retail and hospitality managers, the research exposes a stark reality: while consumers expect seamless transactions, the average payment system outage lasts significantly longer than most are willing to tolerate.
“Our findings in France echo the critical need for payment resilience we’ve observed globally, but with unique local nuances,” says Chris Kronenthal, President, FreedomPay. “This report highlights that payment resilience is no longer just an IT concern; it’s a fundamental business imperative impacting revenue, reputation, and even staff well-being. French businesses must prioritize integrated, intelligent systems to meet evolving consumer demands and protect their operations.”
“French businesses are losing millions in minutes when payments fail,” says Stéphane Dulor, Vice President France and Africa, Dynatrace. “Customers may wait six minutes, but outages often stretch to more than an hour, long past the point where trust is lost. This research shows that resilience is no longer about recovery after the fact. It is about anticipating disruption and ensuring intelligent systems can detect, analyze, and respond instantly to keep transactions flowing. The companies that master this will not only protect revenue but also earn the lasting trust of their customers.”
The escalating cost of payment disruptions
The report quantifies the significant financial drain caused by payment system failures, jeopardizing an estimated €1.9 billion in annual sales across French retail and hospitality. The retail sector alone accounts for a substantial €1.4 billion of these losses.
These are not isolated incidents but recurring operational challenges that disrupt service, erode customer trust, and directly impact revenue. The financial impact builds quickly: while most customers will tolerate disruption for up to 6 minutes – with 15 minutes being the absolute maximum before abandoning a purchase – the average payment system outage in France extends to 72 minutes.
Retail and hospitality businesses face an average of five major outages a year, with disruptions most frequent among mid-sized operators – large enough to run complex, multi-site systems often built on legacy infrastructure, but without the scale or investment capacity of larger businesses. Mitigating these risks depends on strengthening critical areas:
- Network infrastructure (internet outages represent €593 million in at-risk revenue),
- Card machine reliability (failures here account for €324 million in lost sales opportunity), and
- Power backup (power-related failures put €298 million at risk annually).
This disconnect leads to significant lost sales, with over half of potential losses occurring within the first 14 minutes of disruption, and almost 80% within 23 minutes, long before most systems are typically restored. The report emphasizes that recovering payment systems within just 6 minutes can prevent more than 90% of potential losses.
Rising reputational risks and the human toll
Beyond financial losses, payment failures carry severe reputational risks and a growing human toll. The report reveals that 62% of French businesses cite damage to reputation and trust as their top concern during an outage. This concern is justified: 55% of under-35s hold businesses directly responsible when systems fail, and are more likely to share negative experiences online.
The human impact on frontline staff is equally alarming: 69% of retail and hospitality managers have experienced verbal abuse or threatening behavior from customers during payment disruptions, with 1 in 10 even witnessing physical aggression. This highlights a critical and often overlooked aspect of payment resilience.
Cash is no longer a reliable fallback for most French consumers. Fewer than one in three regularly carry cash, and the typical €40 they hold is less than the average €55 spent, leaving them vulnerable and exacerbating frustration during outages.
The imperative for enhanced resilience and solutions
Despite the clear and escalating risks, a significant gap in preparedness remains. The report finds that 43% of French businesses still lack dependable digital backup solutions beyond cash. This figure is notably higher than the 22% reported in the UK, indicating a potentially greater vulnerability and a more urgent need for robust fallback strategies in France.
The findings of this report underscore the urgent need for robust, integrated payment solutions that can ensure continuity and protect businesses from the multifaceted impacts of system failures. Addressing these critical challenges, FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce™ platform provides a comprehensive and highly resilient infrastructure.
Designed to maintain uptime and ensure transactions flow seamlessly even during peak periods or unexpected disruptions, its advanced capabilities deliver rapid processing, secure data handling, and intelligent failover options. This approach directly counters the issues of slow transactions, lost sales, and customer frustration. By leveraging such solutions, businesses can not only safeguard their revenue and reputation but also ensure a smoother, more reliable experience for both customers and frontline staff, transforming payment resilience from a vulnerability into a distinct competitive advantage.
Methodology
The “Payment Resilience in an Uncertain World: France” report combines proprietary survey data with economic modeling and outage pattern analysis to quantify the financial impact of payment disruption across French retail, hospitality, and leisure. The research draws on two nationally representative surveys conducted in July 2025: a consumer survey of 2,000 French adults, and a business survey of 250 retail and hospitality store and venue managers. These findings were combined with industry data from INSEE, Eurostat, and historical power outage records from EDF, to estimate the sales at risk.
About FreedomPay
FreedomPay is the global leader in Next Level Commerce™—transforming the way businesses power payments and experiences across the world. More than a payment solution, FreedomPay is a world-class independent payment gateway engineered to simplify complexity, break down the barriers of legacy systems, and revolutionize every point of interaction—whether in-store, online, or mobile. Chosen by the leading brands across retail, hospitality, sports and entertainment, food service, healthcare and higher education, FreedomPay delivers technology strength, integration breadth, and deep expertise in global payments innovation. As one of the first solutions in North America validated by the PCI Security Standards Council for P2PE, FreedomPay sets the gold standard for payment security, trust, and performance. With a unified technology stack, lightning-fast APIs, and integrated solutions across payments, FreedomPay gives businesses total peace of mind plus the freedom to choose any hardware provider. Move faster, act smarter, and lead markets – not chase them. www.freedompay.com
About Retail Economics
Retail Economics is an independent economics research consultancy focused on the consumer and retail industry. They analyze the complex retail economic landscape and draw out actionable insight for their clients. Leveraging their own proprietary retail data and applying rigorous economic analysis, they transform information into points of action.
Press contact
Burson agency – Ambre Delval – ambre.delval@bursonglobal.com – 06 26 39 83 73