Stripe expands European payment offering
(24 January 2016 – Europe) Payments service provider, Stripe has expanded its reach in Europe via the introduction of support for five popular payment methods on the continent.
By offering payment options through popular methods including: Bancontact (Belgium), Giropay (Germany), iDeal (Netherland), SEPA Direct Debit (pan-European) and Sofort (pan-European/German), the service becomes more attractive to businesses.
Stripe announced the support for the five popular European payment methods in a post on its official blog. Stripe’s customers can activate the payment methods from their dashboard, while European businesses can now also enable 3D secure for their customers.
According to the firm, while credit cards may be popular in countries such as the US, the UK or South Korea, mainland Europeans, prefer local payment methods. The company says that in the Netherlands, for example, most consumers (56 percent) prefer to pay with the local payment method iDeal. So giving customers the choice to pay using either credit cards or local payment methods can significantly boost conversion rates.
The third-party payments processor said US businesses will also be able to accept these methods soon, while it will continue to add more payments to its system.
About Bancontact
Bancontact is the most popular payment method in Belgium; in over 80 percent of Belgian web stores, you can pay with Bancontact. Two thirds of electronic and mobile commerce transactions via Bancontact happen in Belgium, 27 percent in the Netherlands and 8 percent in the UK.
About Giropay
Giropay is a popular payment method in Germany. Introduced in 2006, it’s now offered by over 1,500 banks to more than 35 million online banking customers.
About iDeal
iDeal is the most popular payment method in the Netherlands. In May last year, it registered the billionth transaction via its system. The online payment system has a market share of about 56 percent and is being used since 2005.
About SEPA Direct Debit
SEPA Direct Debit is a pan-European direct debit system that allows merchants to collect payments from accounts in the 34 SEPA countries. It was created to have a standardized payments infrastructure within the European Union.
About SOFORT
SOFORT is another popular payment method in Europe, This bank transfers method, now part of the Klarna Group, is being used by over 65,000 online shops across 15 European countries. It’s especially popular in Germany.
Subscribe