Payment forms – which should I choose for my website?

By 30. May 2017April 11th, 2018eCommerce, Payment Forms

An important part of starting a webshop or as a “next step” to get more visitors and more purchases is to ensure that you have the forms of payment on your webshop that your customers want to use. You can see links at the bottom of the page for more information on the forms of payment I mention in the below.

NB. Select a payment module (PS) that supports the payment options you want. The last thing you want to do is make a direct integration to Klarna (Sweden), iDeal (Holland) or Sofort (Germany) because your payment module cannot support this payment type on their platform and you have to do it yourself. Think from day one about, what your plans are for expansion – and then choose a partner to suit your needs. If you choose direct integrations, make sure the processes are in order and IT resources reserved for maintenance, so changes in file formats, etc. happens without delays – or your integration may stop working.

If your webshop is geared to the Danish market, Dankort is not to be missed and, in fact, in many cases the only payment form you need unless you sell expensive things, traveling or you know your costumers would prefer to use a credit card as MasterCard or American Express. However, a new trend is that perhaps Dankort is not essential for sale in Denmark – now that Clearhouse is more active in the market with credit card acquirering agreements (so-called “international cards”) at prices that might compete with Dankort. However, with a Dankort transaction price of max 1,39 dkk (plus a 1,000 dkk annual fee) there are not many other forms of payment that can beat this if you sell medium or expensive items. The price of the international cards is typically a percent of the price and therefore a payment of a trip to many thousands will be far cheaper on Dankort than on international cards.

However, if you only have Dankort on your website, you should be aware of the fact that you do not support customers from abroad. Even with a page in Danish, there is a possible customer base in Sweden and Norway that will not be able to pay with Dankort.

If we look beyond Denmark’s borders:

Sweden:
Sweden is very pleased with invoices. Most Swedes also have a credit card, but if you want to cater for the Swedish market you will need a billing solution like Klarna or PayByBill. This is a form of payment Swedes are confident with and it will undoubtedly raise your conversion in Sweden, even without your webshop in Swedish.

Norway:
In Norway, they like credit cards, ie. MasterCard or Visa Card. Norwegians also use Klarna, but not nearly as much as the Swedes. On the other hand, Nets in Norway has had great success with  marketing 3D secure and it is seen as a security stamp by the Norwegian customers. Therefore, I can only recommend that you connect 3D Secure to your website if you want to sell to Norway.

Finland:
There are many people in Finland who do not have a credit card and therefore account-to-account payment is widely used and it is a necessity to support this payment form if you want to (successfully) sell your product or service in Finland. You can set up the solution with one of the four major banks in Finland, but if you want to cover the entire country you will need a setup for approx. 10 banks. An easier way to set an account-to-account solution in Finland is via PayTrail, which provides a comprehensive solution covering all banks, and with the added bonus that PayTrail is a well recognised brand in Finland.

Germany:
Germany is a huge market and a logical “next step” from Denmark. However, it will only work with a German website, because the vast majority of Germans can not understand anything but German. Local payment forms include Sofort (which is owned by Klarna) and PayPal, and you willl also need credit cards on your website.

Netherlands:
In The Netherlands, the most used payment form is an account-to-account form of payment called iDeal. It requires you to have an account in a Dutch bank, but it is guaranteed to be worth the effort if you want the Dutch as your customers. Credit cards are also widely used, but if you opt out of iDeal, it will effect your conversion rate. On the other hand, the Dutch are good at English, so you will be OK in this market with an English .com page if you have iDeal as a form of payment.

United Kingdom:
The English pay by credit card, very simple really 🙂

Here you can find more information about the forms of payment I mention above:

Mastercard – Nets’ website, Valitor’s website, Clearhouse’s website

Klarna – Klarnas homepage

PayTrail – Paytrails website

Pay-By-Bill – Arvato’s website

Sofort – Sofort’s website

PayPal – PayPals website

IDeal – iDeals website