The most popular payment methods in Germany

Online retailers should meet the payment preferences of their customers. Depending on the target group, market segment and country these can vary greatly. This blog gives an overview, which payment methods should be offered on the German market.

Avoiding bounce rates through incorrectly chosen payment methods.

The right choice of payment methods can be the key to success in e-commerce, to avoid high bounce rates due to incorrectly chosen payment methods.
Beforehand, the customer has invested quite some time to compare products and prices from different suppliers and finally placed the desired items to the shopping cart and wants to pay now. If the preferred payment method is not offered, it may cause that the customer will cancel the purchase and will go to the competition which is offering the preferred methods.

Selling in Germany

If an online retailer decides to sell his goods in Germany, he first should deal with the target market. Studies show, that German customers are the most active online-shoppers in Europe. Around 80% of the consumers buy products via the Internet monthly or more often. Furthermore, they usually rely on secure and established payment methods and can find it difficult to feel confident with new and unknown payment solutions.

How do German consumers pay their online purchases?

1. PayPal 52%
2. Paying on account 26%
3. Credit card 12%
4. Direct debit 10%

PayPal

PayPal still belongs to the most popular payment methods. This payment solution belongs to the so-called eWallet-systems and is known as a role model which has quickly convinced the German market. Paying with PayPal is secure, fast and convenient. The customer can log in with an e-mail address and password. With just one click the payment is processed. The amount will be deducted from the PayPal account and the merchant receives a notification that the order is paid.

Paying on account

In Germany, paying on account ranks second with 26%. Which includes, among other, the well-known payment methods AfterPay and Klarna. These solutions enjoy great popularity because of their customer friendliness. The consumer can order his desired items without risk and pays after he has received the goods. Especially in the fashion segment this payment method is highly popular. For exa

Credit card

Also the payment method credit card has an important role. About 20% of all consumers own a credit card. This is a high amount of potential customers which online merchants should not ignore. Also, credit card payment offers many benefits when merchants sell their goods to business customers.

Direct debit

Direct debit solutions have become an indispensable part as well. The customer can easily set up this option via his own online-banking. That makes this a very simple and low-threshold payment method. Payments are 100% guaranteed. This is for example very suitable for recurring payments. Deliveries will only be made on a pre-payment basis.
Furthermore, the so-called payment solution SOFORT Banking is rapidly increasing in popularity. The consumer places an order on a online store and chooses to pay with SOFORT Banking. After selecting the own country and bank, the consumer enters the secure payment environment of SOFORT Banking, where the payment order is prepared. Therefore all online banking users are potential customers.

Would you like a detailed consultation how you can expand your online business abroad? We are looking forward to help you to choose the right payment methods.

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