OpenWay’s Gartner Nod Highlights Strategic Shift in Digital Payments

MONT-SAINT-GUILBERT, Belgium – March 04, 2026 – As the global e-commerce market surges toward a projected $5 trillion valuation by 2030, the underlying payment infrastructure is undergoing a radical transformation. In a significant acknowledgment of this shift, global research and advisory firm Gartner has recognized OpenWay Group as a Representative Vendor in its 2026 Market Guide for Digital Commerce Payment Platforms for its Way4 Merchant Acquiring platform.

This inclusion places the Belgium-based software provider among key players in a market Gartner describes as "complex, rapidly evolving," and critical for business success. The Market Guide serves as a vital tool for digital commerce leaders, who, as Gartner notes, "should use this Market Guide to understand this complex, rapidly evolving market, as well as the related vendor platform landscape." Being named a "Representative Vendor" is not a ranking but an identification of a company whose solutions are characteristic of the market's direction and relevant for enterprises making strategic technology investments.

From Back-Office Cost to Strategic Revenue Driver

The recognition comes at a time when businesses are fundamentally rethinking the role of payments. Gartner's report advocates for organizations to treat payments not as a mere back-office utility but as a core strategic function. This approach is crucial in an environment where the global retail e-commerce market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3% between 2025 and 2030.

The advisory firm recommends that businesses select vendors that "provide opportunities to increase revenue and profit through value-added services that allow them to manage the payment experience and optimize acceptance rates." This strategic pivot is driven by the increasing demand for more than just basic transaction processing. Modern enterprises require platforms that can deliver a seamless customer experience, reduce cart abandonment, and support global expansion.

This demand translates into a need for sophisticated value-added services. Advanced, AI-driven fraud management tools are now essential for real-time threat detection and minimizing costly chargebacks. Similarly, with credit cards now accounting for less than half of global e-commerce transactions, support for a wide array of alternative payment methods—including digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, and even emerging Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)—has become a critical factor for customer conversion and retention.

Under the Hood of the Way4 Platform

At the heart of OpenWay's recognition is its Way4 Merchant Acquiring platform, a full-stack digital payment software designed to meet these evolving demands. The platform is engineered to support a vast array of merchant categories and sizes, from small businesses to large-scale cross-border portfolios of up to two million merchants. Its architecture is built to be both configurable and omnichannel, enabling real-time processing across diverse payment rails.

A key differentiator for the Way4 platform is its speed to market. OpenWay claims that its composable architecture, which allows for extensive configuration through parameters rather than custom code, enables large acquirers to launch entirely new payment solutions within months and introduce new products or pricing models in just weeks. This agility is vital in a market where consumer preferences and payment technologies change rapidly.

The platform's capabilities extend far beyond simple payment acceptance. It supports a comprehensive range of payment types, including traditional card payments, digital currencies, wallets, and even quasi-money instruments like fuel liters, airtime, or sustainability points. This flexibility allows merchants to cater to a global customer base with diverse payment preferences. Way4 also automates critical acquiring processes, from digital merchant onboarding and dynamic pricing to settlement, dispute management, and data-driven loyalty programs, offering an end-to-end solution for payment service providers.

Client success stories underscore the platform's impact. Network International, a leading payment provider in the Middle East and Africa, reported a 40% revenue growth and a 78% increase in processed volume within two years of migrating to Way4. In Europe, payment giant Nexi successfully consolidated its pan-European merchant acquiring operations, migrating over one million merchants onto a single Way4 installation, demonstrating the platform's scalability and robustness.

Navigating a Dynamic and Competitive Global Market

OpenWay's recognition by Gartner occurs within a fiercely competitive landscape. The digital payment space includes established giants like Adyen, Stripe, and PayPal, alongside specialized platform providers such as BlueSnap and Fiserv, all vying for market share. To stand out, vendors must offer not only robust technology but also a clear path for future growth and innovation.

OpenWay has been actively expanding its global footprint to meet this challenge. With a presence across the Americas, Europe, MENA, and Asia, the company recently opened a new office in Vietnam and forged a long-term partnership with a tier-1 bank in Morocco to drive its digital transformation. This expansion is complemented by a consistent stream of platform innovations, with recent releases focusing on enhanced APIs, new fraud prevention tools, and support for emerging payment scenarios like Request to Pay and CBDC-linked cards.

The industry-wide push towards real-time payments, now a standard in over 100 countries and accelerated by regulations like Europe's SEPA Instant Payments mandate, further highlights the need for modern, agile platforms. OpenWay's real-time architecture, supporting schemes like PIX in Brazil and FedNow in the U.S., positions it to capitalize on this global trend. The recognition from Gartner, coupled with similar accolades from analysts like Datos Insights and Juniper Research, solidifies the company's standing as a key enabler of the next generation of digital commerce. As businesses worldwide continue to build their strategies around digital-first customer experiences, the capabilities of their underlying payment platforms will increasingly define their potential for success.