Despite a declining share of e-commerce sales, PayPal remains the most popular online payment method in Germany, according to an ‘Online Payment 2024’ study carried out by the German retail institute EHI.
The study, which involved the participation of 148 online sellers, revealed that the online payment service led the rankings in 2023, ahead of buying on account, a payment method that previously topped the list in 2021.
In 2023, 27.7% of online consumer purchases in Germany were paid for by using PayPal, dipping from the previous year’s share of 29.6%. EHI said the slight decline could partly be attributed to temporary interruptions in the acceptance of some payment methods. Buying on account, increased its share, however, from 23.8% percent to 26.7% closing the gap to Paypal at the top.
The third most profitable payment method in e-commerce is direct debit with 16.7%, dropping from its previous year’s share of 20.9% the EHI said. One of the newcomers last year was installment purchasing, or buy now, pay later (BNPL), which almost doubled its share of sales from 3.9% the previous year,
Overall, e-commerce net sales in 2023 are estimated at €81 billion compared to €85 billion the previous year. The study shows that sales fell for the second time in a row, which can be attributed, among other things, to the tense economic situation and subdued consumer sentiment.
Market players of the future?
As part of the study, retail payment managers were also asked which market players they consider important for the further development of online payments. Unsurprisingly, Paypal and Apple take the top places in the ranking from a retail perspective.
For the first time, however, the study also contains figures on the importance of the payment service Klarna, which is also at the forefront and is in third place ahead of Google. Among the already established payment services, those surveyed also see future potential in the payments area for AI applications from OpenAI, which came in tenth place.
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