A merchant's guide to European checkout: getting regional payments right
Roughly seven in ten online shopping carts in Europe are abandoned before purchase. The tracked global average according to the Baymard Institute sits at 70.19% as of 2025, with EMEA running higher in some retail segments according to Dynamic Yield's benchmarks.
The reasons are well documented. Unexpected costs top the list at 39%, but a lesser-known issue impacts merchants on a wider scale: the approach to payment method choice.
Data from payabl.’s cross-border payments report found that 53% of European consumers are willing to switch to new payment methods for a faster or more convenient checkout, while 85% of merchants believe accepting a wider range of payment methods increases sales and conversion.
For merchants selling across borders on PrestaShop, that finding has direct revenue implications, as European shoppers prefer to pay differently. An Austrian buyer looks for EPS, a German customer wants PayPal and the broader market expects Trustly. When those options aren't there, carts are abandoned and conversion rates drop.
Understanding the variance in regional payment preferences:
The data show that Europe is not a single payments market. It contains a multitude of national schemes, bank-led wallets, and card preferences.
Netherlands: iDEAL | Wero processed more than 1.5 billion transactions in 2025, according to the Dutch Payments Association, and holds roughly 70% of the country's online payments market. Additional research has found that 48% of Dutch consumers abandon their carts when iDEAL | Wero is missing at checkout.
Germany: PayPal and SEPA direct debit dominate. Research from Cross-Border Magazine shows PayPal as the most-used online method, with open invoice still preferred by a majority share of consumers.
Poland: BLIK recorded 2.9 billion transactions in 2025. Plus, industry analysis puts BLIK's share of online payment volumes at roughly 58% as of Q3 2025.
Switzerland: TWINT accounts for approximately 64% of all mobile payment transactions in Switzerland, and is used by over 6 million active users.
The pattern is consistent across Europe: each market has one or two methods that consumers genuinely expect to see. If they’re not offered, customers abandon or drop out of checkout more often.
The cost of a one-size-fits-all checkout
Merchants who present only international card options like Visa and Mastercard at checkout pay for that choice in lost conversions.
With payment preferences established, a card-only checkout filters out a meaningful share of consumers before the transaction even begins.
Research from the Baymard Institute puts this in context: among the top abandonment reasons, payment-related issues like insufficient methods and declined cards collectively account for around a quarter of drop-offs at the payment step. That sits alongside shipping cost surprises and account-creation friction. For merchants, payment related issues are something that can be fixed.
If you’re selling in a local market and the dominant payment method isn’t offered, consumers read it as a signal that the merchant doesn’t understand the local market and its nuances.
Security and friction: finding the right balance
European customer authentication rules added a verification step to most card payments, and that direction will continue under upcoming regulation. Local methods such as iDEAL | Wero and BLIK operate through the customer's own bank, so verification happens in an environment that the customer already trusts and uses regularly.
This converts better than card flows in native markets as the point of friction is familiar. The balance to maintain is offering local methods that have meaningful share while keeping the checkout experience simple for consumers. Offer fast-loading forms, saved details for returning customers, and clear messages when a payment is declined.
Practical steps forward
Three actions deliver growth for merchants expanding across European markets.
Audit your current checkout by market: Analyze your conversion rates and abandonment data, segmented by country. For example, if conversion in Germany lags behind the Netherlands, adding PayPal closes that gap.
Research before you add: Focus on one or two methods that matter in each country you sell into. Optimizing checkout with your market's preferred methods can reduce complexity and costs.
Test incrementally: Test and integrate one local method at a time, then measure the change in conversion and average order value in that market over four to six weeks. Review your findings, then move to the next. Avoid bundled launches wherever possible.
Using a payment provider with strong European coverage removes the work involved with expansion considerably, since adding a new market doesn't mean handling another integration.
The payabl. checkout module for PrestaShop brings cards, bank payments, wallets, and regional methods into a single connection.
Regional optimization drives conversion
European checkout optimization is about recognizing that each market has clear expectations and preferences. Meeting those expectations is something merchants can control, and which improves conversions.
Merchants who audit by country, prioritize methods with local share, and test changes will close measurable gaps where they currently underperform, and build trust that turns first-time buyers into returning customers.
To see how payabl. checkout fits with PrestaShop, visit the module’s listing on the PrestaShop Marketplace.
