A new report from Germany-based secondary market research company yStats.com, “Europe Online Payment Methods: Second Half 2016,” tells of the varying preferences of online shoppers in this region with regard to payment options. By synthesizing the latest published market statistics and consumer surveys, the report provides an insight into the growth of online and mobile payments, recent market trends and consumer behavior.
Bank transfer, cash on delivery, credit card, debit card, direct debit, E-Wallet and invoice: online shoppers in Europe demand a variety of payment methods from E-Commerce sellers. According to the findings of the yStats.com report, the right mix of payment options might be essential to succeed in the world’s second largest region by B2C E-Commerce revenues. A survey cited in the report reveals that more than one-half of online buyers in Germany and close to one quarter in the UK have abandoned online shopping cart because their favorite payment method was not offered.
There is a wide range of consumer preferences to take into consideration. Credit or debit card is the first choice of about half of online shoppers in countries such as the UK, France, and Belgium. However, in Germany and Italy, a high double-digit share of E-Commerce buyers prefers E-Wallet providers such as PayPal over traditional online payments by credit or debit card. Different still, local banking method iDEAL accounts for the largest share of online purchases in the Netherlands, while in Eastern Europe payment on delivery is a much demanded option. Furthermore, yStats.com’s research shows that online shoppers’ preferences also evolve over time. For example, in Spain debit card outpaced PayPal in the ranking of favorite online payment methods and in Russia more online shoppers now pay by bank card then by cash on delivery.
The mobile payment landscape in Europe is also diverse. On the regional level, only a small one-digit share of all consumer payments was done via mobile devices in 2016, according to data cited in the yStats.com report. Mobile wallet providers like Apple Pay are used by only a one-digit fraction of consumers in countries like Germany, Italy, and the UK. On the other hand, in Sweden local mobile payment solution Swish was known to nearly all Internet users and used by more than half of them, as of mid-2016. Overall, mobile payments were more likely to be used by Internet users in Scandinavian and selected Eastern European countries than in other parts of Europe.
