The most popular online payment methods in Germany

What payment options do you need to include if you plan a German go-to-market strategy?

Localization matters

When planning to concentrate on the German market, a close look at preferred payment methods is crucial to make sure that customers do not jump ship at the checkout. After all, every second (58 %) customer sees a variety of payment methods as essential when it comes to choosing an eCommerce brand (source: Radial).

It’s also important to know that many German customers tend to be a bit more old-fashioned regarding their payment choices. Established brands and traditional payment methods closely tied to the customer’s banks are much more popular than newer, more digital options, even if those might provide more advantages.

In fact, invoice is still the second-most popular payment method for online shopping which is not exactly popular with merchants but still widely expected, especially in the B2B sector.

The one big exception is PayPal which outshines every other online payment method due to its wide popularity. For Non-German companies, this is actually a good thing, since PayPal is a very typical and globally known payment method.

Popular online eCommerce payment methods

• Digital Wallet (PayPal, Alipay) (64 %)
• Invoice (44 %)
• Klarna (28 %)
• Local credit card or debit card (28 %)
• Visa / Mastercard (25 %)
• Bank transfer (25 %)
• Direct debit (23 %)
• Voucher ePay (15 %)

(Source: DPD via statista, 2023)

Popular digital payment methods

• PayPal (91 %)
• Klarna (45 %)
• Amazon Pay (28 %)
• giropay (20 %)
• Apple Pay (17 %)
• Google Pay (17 %)
• Mastercard Click to Pay (Masterpass) (7 %)

(Source: Statista, 2024)

The Top Payment Methods in Detail

PayPal

As a so-called “Digital Wallet“, PayPal is incredibly popular in Germany and outranks all other payment methods by a wide margin. So if you do want to conquer the German market, PayPal as a payment method is a must-have (which is great because it’s also known and popular in most other European countries).

Why are Germans in love with PayPal? My theory is that they just know and trust the brand from back when PayPal was ebay’s very own payment option. After Amazon, ebay is the second-most used marketplace in Germany (source: SimilarWeb via Statista, 2024) and has been popular since the early 2000s. German customers therefore know PayPal from its early days in 2002.  

Klarna

Klarna is a Swedish payment provider that was founded in 2005 and offers different payment options such as invoice, instant bank transfer, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) or instalments. Especially the latter two options are very attractive for customers, since they allow for more expensive purchases without breaking the bank. Since it opened its services to the German market in 2009, it’s become a very popular payment option specifically for online shops.

It’s not only popular in Germany but also in Austria and Switzerland, so any DACH strategy profits from this payment method.

Amazon Pay

It’s very likely that Amazon Pay is the third-most popular digital payment method in Germany since many Germans buy on Amazon. The most popular marketplace still “only” places third among the most popular payment methods in Germany.

The payment service was launched in 2007 and is available in 20 countries, mostly in Europe. It’s very likely that most customers use Amazon Pay when they’re purchasing from Amazon but prefer other payment methods outside of the online marketplace.

giropay

giropay is an internet payment system developed by the Deutsche Postbank in 2006 in Germany. It allows users to buy via direct online transfers from their bank account.

In 2021, the German Paydirekt GmbH bought giropay and merged its payment services.

giropay is a very German payment method, although some (about 5%) Swiss and Austrian customers also use it. However, in general, this is mainly recommended for a German market presence and is not necessary for a strategy focused on Austria or Switzerland.

Apple Pay & Google Pay

Considering that Germans are quite slow when it comes to adopting new payment methods, it’s rather surprising that after all 17 % of customers use Apple Pay and Google Play for payments.

These Digital Wallets make it much easier to pay with a smartphone, pay online and do recurring payments. They are also accepted internationally, which makes them an attractive payment app for customers who like to travel, shop internationally and/or prefer contactless payment in stationary stores.  

In Austria, Apple Pay (20 %) is even more popular whereas Google Pay is close to the German use rate (16 %). However, Swiss customers seem to love both Apple Pay (31 %) and Google Pay (25 %) so any DACH strategy should include these payment methods for more reach.

Source f. Austria: Statista, 2024

Source f. Switzerland: Statista, 2024

Mastercard Click to Pay

The former “Masterpass” service by Mastercard – another digital wallet – is now known as “Click to Pay” and not quite as popular as the other payment methods I’ve mentioned. However, it can still be considered, especially for a DACH strategy, since it’s much more popular in Austria (11 %) and Switzerland (14 %).

It is currently available in 27 countries with 11 countries from Europe, so if you plan a European market strategy, it might help to check where Mastercard Click to Pay is available (can be seen here). 

Billwerk+ Pay is a payment gateway based in Europe, made in Europe and made for European businesses. Choose from over 50 payment options to customize your checkout experience to your customer’s needs.

Try our solution for free and see how easy it is to set up and which features further help you create a smooth, secure and customer-friendly shopping experience.