The 16 Best Payment Methods for E-commerce

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Every business has its unique offerings, but not every business offers various ways to pay for its products. Having the right secure payment methods for e-commerce will not only encourage customers to buy — because they trust you more — it will also make their buying journey more accessible and enjoyable.

There’s an abundance of online payment methods in today’s technological world. Choosing what’s best for your e-commerce business depends on a few things such as your location or the primary location of your customers. You’ll also want to consider installment options if you have larger ticket items. 
The most popular payment forms online are credit and debit cards. However, alternative payment methods, such as electronic wallets (e-wallets), bank transfers, and peer-to-peer payments are gaining popularity. For successful and secure payments, you need a payment gateway.

Table of contents

• 16 Best payment methods for e-commerce
• Why offer multiple online payment methods?
• Types of online payment systems
• Choosing the best payment methods for your e-commerce business

16 Best payment methods for e-commerce

With so many payment methods to choose from, it can be hard to know which ones are best for your business. Below are the 16 best payment methods for e-commerce.

Credit cards

The most common form of payment in Spain is still credit cards, although they were used 10% less on Black Friday 2023 compared to 2022. To configure credit card payments for your e-commerce store without MONEI X or MONEI Pay, you must have a Virtual POS — we can help you get one via our acquiring bank partners.

📌 Further reading: What are Interchange Fees? [Quickstart Guide]

Bizum

Many shoppers in Spain prefer to use Bizum as it’s a fast, secure, and contactless payment solution. It’s easy for your customers to use as they can pay with just a couple of clicks.

Apple Pay

With 500 million users worldwide, Apple Pay is growing rapidly. It’s easy to set up and customers with Apple devices are taking advantage of its security and convenience. 

To keep you and your customers safe, Apple uses a unique transaction code and a device specific number so the card number is never stored on a device or server.

Google Pay

Hundreds of millions of people use Google Pay to store credit and debit card information. Just like Apple Pay, it’s easy to set up, although it’s more commonly used by Android users. It’s quick and convenient for both e-commerce and in-store purchases.

Click to Pay 

A newer entry to the market but backed by major credit card networks like Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, it’s worth getting on board early with Click to Pay.

PayPal

With more than 429 million users make, PayPal is extremely popular worldwide. Your customers can pay quickly and its encryption technology offers great security.

📚Further reading: Further reading: Is Paypal a Secure Payment Method for Merchants and Customers?

Sepa Direct Debit 

Sepa Direct Debit is a europe-wide Direct Debit system that allows merchants to collect Euro-denominated payments from accounts in the 36 SEPA countries and associated territories

Multibanco

The most popular local payment method in Portugal, Multibanco, allows customers to pay without sharing card or personal information. There are no chargebacks, guaranteed security, and it’s already popular and trusted. 

Bancontact

As the strongest payment method in Belgium, Bancontact is connected to 20 of the country’s banks and its usage is growing. If you have customers in Belgium, it’s critical to accept this payment type.

Giropay

One of the most popular payment methods in Germany with over one million transactions per month, Giropay was introduced in 2005 and supports most German banks. Customers can complete payments from their existing online banking environment with this method.

iDEAL 

In 2023, there were 1.2 billion transactions using iDEAL in the Netherlands. It holds a 70% market share and is growing across Europe. If you want Dutch customers, you need to accept iDEAL payments.

Trustly

Trustly is a Swedish fintech that integrates with 6,300 banks to collect funds locally across Europe. It provides online banking in the Baltic and Nordic regions, as well as the UK. With 6.3 million active users, it’s a good idea to accept this payment method.

MB Way

Portugal’s favorite mobile payment method, MB Way, has over 3.5 million active users who make 9 million purchases each month. Customers pay online with their mobile phone number and MB WAY PIN, which links with up to eight bank cards.

Klarna

The Swedish giant, Klarna, has more than 90 million users worldwide across 250,000 merchants. Klarna works as a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service in Europe and the US. Customers can either pay now, pay later in interest free installments, or pay with financing. 

SOFORT

Now owned by Klarna, SOFORT is one of the most used alternative payment methods in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. SOFORT means “immediate” in German and lets consumers pay from their accounts in a fast, simple, and secure way.

Cofidis 

Cofidis specializes in the consumer credit business offering customized consumer loans either by phone or over the internet. This means your customers can pay in installments and all they need is their ID and a bank statement.

📌 Start Now: Use MONEI to accept a wide range of popular local payment methods from a single platform. With one integration you can add payment options like Bizum, Multibanco, iDEAL, Giropay, and more to your store. Skip the headache of setting up local acquiring in each of the countries you want to sell to. 

Why offer multiple online payment methods?

Customers expect to be able to pay using their preferred payment method. The more online payment methods you offer, the more likely they are to buy from you. Popular methods of payment like Bizum, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal help customers checkout on a variety of websites without having to add their payment details each time. 

Accepting multiple payment options creates a seamless and timely user experience and increases the chance of customers coming back to buy from you in the future. It helps you to maximize conversion rates, increase customer loyalty, reduce abandoned carts, improve the customer experience, enhance brand perception, appeal to a wider demographic, and make the checkout process easy.

Types of online payment systems

There are numerous types of online payment systems that you can provide to your customers:

• Credit cards. Of all of the online payment systems, credit cards are the oldest and still the most popular.
• Direct Debit. Sepa Direct Debit, Multibanco, Bancontact, and Giropay are all direct debit payment types. They allow your customers to pay without the need for a credit card.
• Bank transfer. iDEAL and Trustly make it easier than ever to pay via bank transfer with online portals directing customers directly to their banking apps to complete a payment.
• Digital wallet or e-wallet payments. Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal are examples of digital wallets that hold your payment information securely. They add an extra layer of protection for payments online and allows for stronger passwords. It also lets your users pay without providing (or even owning) a credit card.
• Peer-to-Peer Payment Apps. These types of apps, like Bizum and SOFORT have gained great popularity over the last few years. They provide ways for people to exchange money without physical papers on hand and you can accept peer-to-peer payments in your business too.
• Installment or Pay Later Apps. Depending upon your business, products, and pricing model, you may want to consider providing a way for your customers to pay in installments over time. The best installment apps, like Cofidis and Klarna provide ways for you and your customers to have a quality and safe experience.

📌 Pro Tip: Accepting card payments is essential. But it shouldn’t be the only online payment method available on your checkout page. Adding alternative and local payment methods to your online store is crucial, especially if you have (or want to have) international customers. Use MONEI to diversify your payment stack from a single platform.

Choosing the best payment methods for your e-commerce business 

Choosing the right payment method for your e-commerce business is vital to gain and retain customers. As yourself these questions to get started:

1. What’s my target customer’s preferred method of payment and where are they located?
2. What’s the best payment method for my location? 
3. How will each payment method affect user experience at checkout?
4. Is it easy to integrate my store with this payment method? 
5. Which payment gateway best fits my target goals?

The best payment gateways, like MONEI, make it easy to accept the most popular payment methods across Europe, so you can concentrate on growing your business.

Alexis Damen

Alexis Damen is a former Shopify merchant turned content marketer. Here, she breaks down complex topics about payments, e-commerce, and retail to help you succeed (with MONEI as your payments partner, of course).