Payments

When it comes to online shopping, credit cards still rule the payments landscape in Europe. But alternate payment methods are growing at a fast pace. The latest data shows us again that you can´t see Europe as one region; every country has its own preferred payment methods. Let’s have a look.

Klarna Checkout is a new solution from the Swedish invoice payment provider, that enables online retailers to offer their customers all the popular payment methods in one payment solution. Customers only need to provide their e-mail address and postcode to complete a purchase. We tried it out at the Klarna office in Amsterdam.

More Russian consumers are shopping online, but still the lion’s share of payments happen with cash. But that may be something of the past soon, as electronic wallets are gaining some serious ground in the Russian ecommerce industry. And this of course will help drive the growth of online retail in Russia.

Visa Europe have announced this week new partnerships with 15 European internet payment service providers, which will increase the reach of its digital wallet V.me. This service has now access to their extensive ecommerce merchant portfolios and Visa expects many more retailers will follow and be capable of processing transactions by the end of this year.

MasterCard has launched its digital payment solution MasterPass in Italy. The Southern European country is one of the first in Europe where this solution is launched, as it's now only active in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. But more European countries will follow soon.

Mangopay, a payment solution for marketplaces, crowdfunding and collaborative platforms is aiming for transactions totaling 500 million euros by 2015. The capital injection that was announced this week will probably help Mangopay with this as well with its growth ambitions in Europe.

MasterCard and OTP Bank Hungary announced OTPay, the first digital wallet in Europe to leverage the MasterPass API. It provides cardholders the opportunity to shop and pay at 30,000 MasterPass accepting merchants worldwide. And with the associated app, customers can pay bills online, top up their prepaid or make person to person transactions.

It seems the bitcoin is here to stay. More people are getting familiar with the virtual currency and an increasing number of online stores now accept bitcoin as a valid payment method. Here in Europe we’ve noticed this as well, as we’ve seen several online retailers change their websites and online payment options.

PKO Banks Polsi and EVO Payments International are forming a long-term strategic alliance. Payment service provider EVO Payments will acquire a 66 percent interest in PKO's merchant acquiring business eService. The two companies will also establish a 20 year alliance under which both parties will continue to work together to grow further eService's business within Europe.

IcePay has completed a €2,6 million round of funding. With this money the payment service provider wants to expand internationally, with a focus on expanding within Europe. IcePay has a so called PSD license, which gives the Dutch company the right to act as a payment service provider throughout the European Union and European Economic Area.

Paymill launched its new product Paymill Unite today. It’s an all-in-one solution for everyone with an online marketplace. Paymill Unite enables merchants to offer credit card or debit payments to their buyers in an easy way. With the new product marketplace owners are also able to connect to other Paymill merchants, create transactions on behalf of the connected merchants and take commissions.

Here in Europe it´s not all about credit cards. There are actually many, many different online payment methods. Let´s have a look at what customers in certain European regions and countries tend to use if they order goods online.  You´ll notice common names like Paypal, but also some very local ones, like Dankort.

Visa has agreed to reduce some credit card fees. This move comes almost a year after the European Commission told Visa its inter-bank fees might violate EU antitrust rules.  So now the fees that banks charge each other to process credit card transactions across the internal borders of the European Union are lowered.

Online payment system PayPal announced last week that it will be rolling out PayPal Here in Europe, starting in the United Kingdom. For the European market, the solution comes with a different piece of hardware. Instead of swiping, customers can now insert their chip-based card and enter a PIN number to verify their identity.

The French payment solution company Ingenico is buying online payment service provider Ogone for €360 million ($488.56 million). Ingenico called the acquisition "a key milestone" in its strategy to become a one-stop-shop provider of multi-channel payment solutions, whether it's at the POS, online or through mobile devices.