Al-Futtaim picks Juspay for 50-brand payments rollout

Al-Futtaim has chosen Juspay as its payment orchestration partner across its brands and markets, with the rollout set to cover 50 brands in 12 markets.

The agreement will introduce a single payment layer across Al-Futtaim's operations, starting with the first brand scheduled to go live in September 2026. As part of the arrangement, Juspay will provide its Breeze checkout stack, along with tools for fraud management, adaptive 3D Secure workflows, local payment methods, network tokenisation, analytics and reconciliation.

The project is intended to bring together payment operations that are currently spread across different businesses and geographies. Al-Futtaim operates in sectors including automotive, financial services, property, retail and health, and manages a broad portfolio of consumer brands across more than 20 countries.

The rollout balances central oversight with local flexibility through a multi-hierarchical model that gives Al-Futtaim central controls while allowing country-level configurations and brand-specific settings.

This approach lets individual brands retain their checkout identity and adapt to local payment preferences, while the parent group monitors activity across the wider system. It also reflects the complexity of running digital payments for a large, diversified business with varied customer journeys and regulatory environments.

Payments have become a more prominent part of digital commerce strategy as merchants seek to reduce failed transactions, support local methods and improve checkout. Large groups operating across multiple markets often face a patchwork of payment providers, acceptance rules, and reporting systems, making orchestration platforms more attractive for standardising management.

Al-Futtaim said the partnership is intended to create a simpler transaction experience for customers across its businesses. It also linked the initiative to its broader digital commerce efforts, focusing on making checkout more consistent across brands and markets.

Omar Haddad outlined the group's view of payments' role in the customer journey.

"At Al-Futtaim Finance, we see payments as an important part of the overall customer experience. Our partnership with Juspay is about creating a simpler, more seamless and secure way for customers to transact across Al-Futtaim's brands and markets, while building the infrastructure needed to support our continued growth and digital ambitions. As customer expectations continue to evolve, partnerships like this allow us to bring greater choice, convenience and innovation into the everyday payment experience," said Omar Haddad, Chief Executive Officer, Al-Futtaim Finance.

Checkout layer

Juspay said its orchestration layer is designed to support businesses with multiple brands, markets and payment service providers under one system. The company processes more than 350 million transactions a day and says it exceeds USD $1 trillion in annualised total payment volume.

It operates across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, the UK and North America. That reach is relevant for groups such as Al-Futtaim, which need payment setups that can handle local requirements while supporting broader reporting across regions.

Nakul Kothari described the fit between the two companies in terms of scale and complexity.

"Al-Futtaim is the kind of enterprise that requires payment infrastructure to support multiple brands, markets and payment service providers through one unified system and a consistent checkout experience for customers. That is precisely what Juspay's orchestration layer is built for. We are proud to be their partner as they advance digital commerce across the region," said Nakul Kothari, Head of APAC & Middle East, Juspay.

AI payments

A notable part of the project is that both companies frame the new payment layer as groundwork for so-called agentic commerce. In practical terms, that refers to systems in which AI software can initiate and complete purchases on behalf of users, subject to controls set by merchants, payment providers and customers.

The concept has attracted growing attention across online commerce, though much of the discussion has focused on future use cases rather than live payment infrastructure. In this case, Al-Futtaim and Juspay are positioning payment orchestration as the framework needed before such models can operate across multiple brands and markets.

Paul Carey linked the rollout directly to that longer-term shift in digital transactions.

"The launch of our payment orchestration platform marks a major milestone in Al-Futtaim's digital transformation journey. By unifying payment operations across 50 brands and 12 markets, we are creating a scalable and resilient foundation that supports growth, innovation and exceptional customer experiences. Beyond today's benefits, payment orchestration is a key enabler of the emerging era of agentic commerce, where intelligent AI-driven interactions will increasingly shape how customers discover, purchase and pay," said Paul Carey, EVP Cards, Payments & Fintech, Al-Futtaim.

Al-Futtaim employs more than 40,000 people and oversees more than 200 brands, including Toyota, Lexus, IKEA, ACE and Marks & Spencer. The scale of its consumer operations means changes to checkout and payment acceptance can affect a wide range of sectors and customer interactions.