Supporting the fan journey with the right wallet
Fanatics, the world’s largest licensed sports merch retailer, processes surges in demand during major events—from game days to holidays. Yet even with loyal traffic, they faced persistent challenges: checkout friction, dropped sessions, and fraud exposure.
Enter Paze.
Doug Raymond, SMD and Head of Payment Strategy at Fanatics, explained in a webinar that their primary payments goal was to provide a great customer experience. He emphasized that the team looked beyond just customer conversions and payment volume and was optimizing the purchasing experience for retention and loyalty.
Fanatics implemented Paze in December 2024 with a tailored integration to their preferred UX: customers stayed on-site, saw familiar card logos from their bank, and completed purchases with fewer clicks.
Leading national banks are promoting Paze-enabled merchants like Fanatics through their marketing channels, which are uniquely effective due to the high level of engagement and trust consumers place in bank communications.
In March 2025, Fanatics and Capital One launched a 30% off NCAA promotion, and Paze delivered:
- Conversion jumped to 69%2, a 13-point lift over baseline
- Average order value surged by 20%3
- 98% authorization rates, bolstered by bank-authenticated credentials4
- Daily transactions quadrupled during the campaign5
"The win with Paze is its simplicity, speed, and the built-in trust of the customer’s bank," Raymond said. "It gives us the best of both worlds - brand control and better payment performance."
Download the full case study for more details on the approach, bank promotion campaigns, and results.
- Sacra Fanatics Profile | 2024.
- For returning recognized users who entered the Paze checkout flow per Paze data from 3/18/2025-4/8/2025.
- Average order value with Paze was $109.77 as compared to merchant-reported average of $91.49 from 1/1/2025-2/19/2025.
- Per Fanatics data from 1/1/2025-4/30/2025.
- Comparing pre-campaign Paze volume from 2/28/2025-3/11/2025 to campaign data from 3/12/2025-4/12/2025.