Our services
How We Work With You
We don’t answer a brief. We build the function. Most payments consultants come from the provider side — they know what’s technically possible but don’t understand your internal politics, KPIs, or constraints. PaymentVibes was founded on almost 20 years on the merchant side of luxury retail. We work from the inside, starting with your business priorities — not a technology wishlist.
Every engagement follows a full-cycle approach built around four phases (0–3). We always start with diagnostics — from there, we recommend what makes sense for your situation. You don’t need to commit to all four upfront. We meet you where you are.
Phase 0 — Discovery & Diagnostics
Where you stand — and what it’s actually costing you. · Typical duration: 1–2 weeks
Every engagement starts here — even if you come with a defined problem. We don’t jump to solutions. We review your contracts, data, payment mix, and internal organisation, speak to key stakeholders, and map the full picture: where you stand versus luxury industry peers, what’s costing you, and where the biggest opportunities are — ranked by effort and impact.
What you get: A big-picture overview of your payments landscape across all markets and channels — fast. Not a prescription, but the clarity you need to decide what’s worth pursuing. Detailed recommendations and business cases follow in the next phase.
Phase 1 — Strategy & Prioritisation
From opportunity map to validated business case. · Typical duration: 3–4 weeks
Once the landscape is clear, we map payment optimisation priorities against your actual business strategy — not the other way around. We size each opportunity with real data, build the business case, and present recommended priorities to your Steerco for validation.
What you get: You see concrete financial and operational gains — not just cost savings, but CX improvement and sales uplift. You start thinking independently from what providers tell you. No full-fledged transformation required.
Phase 2 — Implementation & Execution
Strategy is only as good as its delivery. · Typical duration: ~6 months
We don’t hand over a deck and disappear. We co-pilot execution with your teams — designing the implementation approach for each initiative, defining project governance, connecting siloed teams, and measuring performance as we go.
What you get: Everyone on the same page — progress, problems, and results visible without dragging people into every project. Bi-weekly updates and monthly Steerco reviews keep momentum.
Phase 3 — Fractional Head of Payments
C-level expertise — without the full-time hire. · Ongoing
Once the first wave is running, we stay on as strategic advisory — filling the C-level skills gap, speaking to CFO/CTO/providers on your behalf, and helping recruit or train the internal resource to run day-to-day operations.
What you get: High-calibre expertise at a fractional cost — the equivalent of a Head of Payments and a Payment Operations Manager, scaled to what you actually need (typically 1-2 days per week).
What Makes This Different
Most consultants come from the provider side (banks, fintech, PSPs). They know what’s technically possible but not what it takes to get things done inside a luxury house. They arrive with big presentations or unrealistic plans, disconnected from how luxury brands actually operate.
We’ve been on your side for almost 20 years. We know the internal politics, the language each team speaks, and what it takes to get a CFO to say yes. We co-pilot rather than pilot. We don’t try to change your governance — we put things on top of what exists and generate results without a deep transformation.
Most consultants come to answer a specific ask — run an RFP, support a go-to-market, act as outsourced ops. They do either strategy (without getting their hands dirty) or project delivery (without the bigger picture).
We do the full cycle — discovery, scoping, implementing, co-piloting, and staying on as strategic advisor. That continuity is what makes the results stick. And it’s why clients keep us on.
Areas of Expertise
These capabilities sit within the full-cycle process above — never as standalone services without context. What gets activated depends on what the diagnostics reveal and what your business priorities demand.
- Enterprise Payment Strategy
- Payment Optimisation
- Payment Data Insights
- Payment Acceptance Optimisation
- Innovation & Web3 Payments
- In-Store and Online Solution
- Fraud Prevention
- Omnichannel Payment Foundations
- KPI's Definition & Monitoring
- Vendor Selection & Management
- Customer Experience
- Payment Technologies
- Organisational Desgin
- Process Redesign & Imporvement
Ready to find out what your payments are really costing you?
Whether you’re starting from scratch or suspect there’s more on the table than anyone’s told you — let’s have a conversation. No pitch or a pre-built solution. Just an honest look at where you are and what’s possible.
