Accept payments in Germany

German Payment Market Overview

Germany is one of Europe’s e-commerce big-hitters: with business to consumer e-commerce sales of €80 billion, ranking the country third behind the UK and France. That said, growth rates have slowed from double to single-digit rates in recent years, a trend we expect to see continue. This growth deceleration is echoed in other mature European e-commerce markets including France and the UK.

In terms of market dynamics, both male and female shoppers alike are embracing online shopping, with a 13.4 percent and an 8.5 percent increase in sales, respectively, for these populations in the past year. One opportunity is in homewares and appliances. With a 26.5 percent increase, this category was the fastest-growing German online shopping category last year, followed by groceries (21.3 percent) and consumer electronics (20.9 percent).

Payment Methods in Germany

Key Market Indicators in Germany

Banks in Germany

Mobile Carriers in Germany

Integrate German Payment Methods

Card penetration in Germany is low, at 0.52 per capita, and card payments are thwarted by the fact that, while cards can be used online, one of the major domestic brands is largely not enabled for internet use in Germany. Girocard is the major debit card system, with 100 million cards in circulation that do not work online. As a result, cards only account for 13 percent of the payments market.

Instead, Germany’s conservative approach to online spending is coupled with a preference for using traditional, bank-based payment methods for purchasing. Open invoice and direct debit payments account for 40 percent of online sales – a drop of just one percent on the previous year, and involves consumers paying for goods via bank transfer after they have received them.