Offer cards and mobile wallets everywhere, plus the local method that dominates each country. One is often enough, as long as it's the right one.
The benchmark
The most widely used local methods in Europe, with what Shopify Payments enables without a third-party gateway:
| Country | Local payment method | Share | Shopify Payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | iDEAL, migrating to Wero by the end of 2027 | 70% of e-commerce transactions | yes |
| Belgium | Bancontact; Wero open to e-commerce since March 2026 | the local go-to | yes |
| Germany | PayPal, buy now pay later (invoice), direct debit | 29%, 26%, 14% of sales; cards 14% | PayPal and Klarna; direct debit via third-party gateway |
| Austria | EPS, Wero rolling out | no published share | yes |
| Poland | BLIK | 71% of transactions | yes, with Przelewy24 |
| Portugal | MB Way, Multibanco | MB Way leads | yes |
| Spain | Bizum | second most used online method | third-party gateway |
| Switzerland | Twint | one-third of remote transactions | yes |
Habits shift: have your provider confirm this list before you open a market. In France, Wero has been open to merchants since September 2026.
The rule
In each country, the display order follows local habits, and each method shows only in its own market. An agency director put it this way at a migration workshop:
"That way Bancontact only shows for the European countries concerned and not for France. You tie your payment methods to your markets."
At a footwear brand the authors work with, that list of countries was hardcoded in the theme, and opening a market required a developer; the authors have shipped shortcuts like that too.
The steps
- The audit. Pull your sales and payment abandonment by country.
- The request. Get your provider to tell you the most-used methods in each market.
- The activation. Turn on the dominant method, then measure its share of orders.
- The visibility. Show the accepted logos starting on the product page or in the footer: three visible, the rest collapsed.
- The advertising. Pause acquisition in a country until its checkout is ready.
A sentence to say to your leadership, to adapt with your own countries:
"Before opening a country, we turn on its dominant method, show it only there, and only judge the country afterward."
The trap
Lining up twelve logos to reassure shoppers is the first trap: every method you add carries an integration cost and an accounting reconciliation cost.
The opposite mistake is more common: opening Germany with bank cards alone, and concluding that Germany doesn't buy.
At the perfume house cited in the previous page, the audit with the brand concluded by freezing advertising in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and the Emirates, markets judged unprofitable, until their payment was fixed.
Shoppers who can't find their payment method show up in no abandonment report: they close the tab, and in your numbers the country looks like it doesn't buy.
