Introducing the Stitch Express Spring/Summer 2025 Launch

Our recent consumer payments report showed how important checkout experience is to the buying journey, with 57% of South Africans indicating that a fast, easy payment process is what matters most when it comes to a positive online checkout experience. These experiences can make or break conversion – and ultimately loyal customers – in an increasingly competitive online commerce space.

Stitch Express was designed to make payments as seamless and high-converting as possible for e-commerce businesses. We’re excited to introduce the Stitch Express Spring/Summer ‘25 feature drop. This is a collection of features designed to improve payment conversion, increase trust with end customers and make reconciliation easier than ever. 

This release is about giving merchants more control, helping customers complete their payments with confidence, and ensuring that behind-the-scenes processes run even more smoothly.

What’s new in Spring/Summer ‘25?

Branded checkout

E-commerce merchants know that a consistent experience is key to building trust and retaining customers. We’ve heard from our clients that they’re looking for the ability to customise their sites and subsequent payment flows to better match their brands. 

Similarly, customers want reassurance that they are paying the right business, through the right channel, to a trusted provider. With branded checkout, merchants can now add their logo and business name to the payment method selection screen. This seemingly small change can significantly improve trust and brand continuity, reinforcing legitimacy at a critical step in the journey. As a result, shoppers feel more confident about completing their purchase, while businesses benefit from higher conversion rates.

The Express Checkout App for Shopify

The new Express Checkout App on Shopify integrates seamlessly into a merchant’s existing checkout flow, giving merchants the power to reorder and rename payment methods to make it clear for customers, and to put the methods customers are demanding most up front. 

By prioritising the highest-converting options – such as Apple Pay – merchants can guide customers towards the simplest, most reliable experiences. The app has met Shopify’s “Built With” requirements, meaning it’s not only easy to install, but also trusted to deliver value from day one.

Messages on failure reasons communicated to customer

Payment failures are one of the biggest causes of frustration at checkout for both merchants and customers. As we saw in our recent report,  % of customers will leave if they attempt a payment that doesn’t go through - and many won’t come back.

By providing transparent information to customers, such as the reason for a payment failure, in real-time (such as via messages like “Insufficient funds” or “Card limit reached”), there is a greater potential to reduce unnecessary drop-offs, and empower customers to take action immediately to potentially rectify the situation themselves, lightening the load on merchant support teams.

Xero-optimised CSV exports

We know a lot of e-commerce merchants are using tools like Xero to help them streamline reconciliation. We’ve now introduced a Xero-Optimised CSV Export to enable downloadable reconciliation files specifically formatted for Xero. This makes it plug-and-play for merchants already using Xero’s accounting tools, cutting down manual effort and freeing up time to focus on growth rather than admin.

Sales-linked withdrawals

For businesses whose cash flow relies heavily on their ability to access their funds fast, we’ve developed a new sales-linked withdrawals feature to enable automated daily payouts, including a reconciliation file that links each payout directly to individual sales references. This provides clear visibility between sales activity and incoming funds, simplifying bookkeeping and ensuring merchants always have confidence in their numbers.

Looking ahead

This launch is part of our ongoing commitment to support merchants in building frictionless, trusted payment experiences while also simplifying the operational realities of reconciliation and cash flow. By focusing on both the front-end customer journey and the back-end business process, Stitch Express helps e-commerce businesses unlock growth, reduce support overhead, and maintain trust at every stage.

We have more exciting announcements coming soon – watch this space.

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FAQs

What is the Stitch Express Spring/Summer 2025 launch?

It’s a product update introducing new features and improvements to Stitch Express, aimed at helping e-commerce businesses optimise checkout and payment performance.

What’s new in the Stitch Express Spring/Summer 2025 release?

The release includes enhancements focused on faster setup, improved reliability, and better checkout experiences for online merchants.

Who is Stitch Express designed for?

Stitch Express is built for e-commerce businesses that want simple, reliable online payments without complex integrations.

How does this launch benefit e-commerce merchants?

Merchants benefit from improved conversion, smoother checkout flows, and payment infrastructure designed to scale with growing transaction volumes.

Does this update affect existing Stitch Express users?

Existing users automatically benefit from the latest improvements, with no disruption to current payment operations.

Is Stitch Express suitable for South African e-commerce businesses?

Yes. Stitch Express is designed with local payment preferences, infrastructure, and reliability requirements in mind.

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