Purchase on account is payment method with highest revenue in Germany

German consumers still like to pay for their online purchases only after they have received the goods. Most online retailers adapt to this, even when they offer payment by e-wallet or credit card in the first place. Purchase on account has further strengthened its leading position as the most revenue-intensive payment method in the German ecommerce industry. It’s followed by direct debit and PayPal.

These are the most important results of this year’s EHI study “Online-Payment 2017“, which was present during the EHI Card Congress in Bonn. Research has also shown that online shops in Germany are offering more payment methods than they did last year. On average, customers were able to choose from seven different payment methods in the 1,000 top-selling online shops last year. The ten biggest online stores however, offered almost nine different payment methods to its customers.

E-wallets are most common payment method in Germany

While purchase on account is the most revenue-intensive payment method in Germany, e-wallets are still the most common payment method, followed by digital wallets such as PayPal, and credit card. Although it offers a relatively high default risk for ecommerce companies, purchase on account is offered by 67.7 percent of the top 1,000 online shoppers.

Paydirekt offered by only 45 of the top 1,000 online stores

The popularity of Paydirekt, the online payment method set up by several major banks in Germany, has so far been relatively low. Only 45 (from a total of 816) Paydirekt-offering online stores are among the top 1,000 online merchants. But there is also some good news for the payment method: 34 percent of online retailers interviewed said they would be willing to add Paydirekt to their offering of payment methods by the end of next year.

The most frequently offered payment method isn’t necessarily the one which gives online retailers the most sales. For example, purchase on account represents 30.5 percent of the online revenue generated by the top 1,000 online shops in Germany. It’s followed by direct debit (20.2 percent) and PayPal (17.9 percent):