Payments

Amazon is convinced of the added value of the digital euro, which the European Central Bank (ECB) aims to introduce. The company has built a prototype for its application in ecommerce payments.

For years, purchasing on account was the most popular payment method in Germany for online shoppers. However, in 2022, PayPal took over that place. At least 29.6 percent of online purchases were paid for with this payment method.

Dutch payment service iDeal has been acquired by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a collaboration of European banks. Payconiq, technology provider of iDeal and Belgian payment platform Bancontact, has also been taken over. iDeal is to form the basis of a Europe-wide payment system, according to EPI.

Online payment provider Paypal is under investigation by the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) in Germany. The company has allegedly hindered market and price competition in its terms and conditions, the German watchdog says.

The Dutch government wants online liquor stores to stop offering ‘buy now, pay later’ as a payment method. If they do not find alternative payment methods, the government will come up with legal measures. The payment method lowers the threshold to buy alcohol.

Startup JUST, which enables a one-click checkout for online stores, raised 3 million euros in seed capital. The solution can increase conversion by nearly 20 percent, according to the company. The one-click checkout landscape is highly competitive.

Swedish fintech Klarna wants to raise 1 billion dollars (over 900 million euros) from investors. The company is the European market leader for ‘buy now, pay later’ services. However, it has been valued 30 percent lower and has since announced layoffs.

PayPal has launched its funding solution for SMEs, called PayPal Funding Pro, in two new European markets: France and the Netherlands. The solution gives SMEs quick and easy access to growth capital. Online sellers can find it in the PayPal Commerce Platform.

Leading ecommerce software BigCommerce named Mollie, a payment service provider from the Netherlands, as Preferred Technology Partner. The Dutch fintech offers most of the popular payment methods in Europe. The news follows BigCommerce’s recent expansion to the Netherlands, France and Germany.

A whopping 30 percent of Spanish customers now prefer to ‘buy now, pay later’. Paying in installments is especially popular for electronics and travel. Overall, credit card, debit card and PayPal are the biggest payment methods in Spain.

Dutch fintech company in3 has raised 10 million euros in funding. According to the company's announcement today, the growth capital is intended to drive product growth and improvement, as well as enable faster staff growth in merchant and customer service. The fintech has also announced a partnership with Worldline.

French fintech Alma has raised 210 million euros in funding. With the capital injection it wants to expand across Europe into Austria, Luxemburg, Portugal, Ireland and the Netherlands. The company is already internationally active in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain.

PayPal is expanding its 'Pay later' offer in Germany. This week, it has announced the launch of its new payment option 'Payment after 30 days'. Customers can select the new option for purchases up to 1.000 euros and pay for it after 30 days without additional costs.

Payment methods are an integral component to the success of ecommerce businesses. Knowing which payment methods are preferred by customers can increase conversion for online stores. Genome, a Lithuania-based financial platform, made a list of the current trends and most popular methods in Europe.

Online payment method PayPal is well-known within Europe, but the usage of PayPal in online stores varies between countries. In Italy, 93 percent of online stores offer PayPal as a payment method. On the other end of the spectrum, PayPal is only offered in 1 percent of Serbian online stores.