Win international customers with the right payment methods
Swiss quality products are in demand, especially among customers from Europe and the USA. But to win international customers, a good product alone is not enough: the payment process must also be right. In this article, you will find out which payment methods are indispensable in checkout – and how you can offer them very easily with Payrexx.
Sheila
Matti
In e-commerce, more than ever, the following applies: the world is drawing closer together. For Swiss online retailers, there is great sales potential abroad. According to the online platform Webinterpret, a full 45 per cent of Americans regularly shop across borders. And the European market is even closer.
Anyone who wants to reach buyers beyond the national border must know what they want – and in particular how they want to pay. The right selection of payment methods at checkout is crucial so that the purchase does not already end in the shopping basket. The Statista study "E-commerce Checkout Behavior" (2024) shows that 17 per cent of all online purchases are abandoned because the preferred payment method was not available. With Payrexx, this can be avoided very easily.
Below, we show you which payment methods are particularly important in Europe, America and Asia – and how you can easily integrate them into your checkout with Payrexx.
Credit cards: Greater reach with the Discover® Network
Anyone who wants to sell internationally should think beyond the obvious when it comes to credit cards. Depending on lifestyle, alternatives to Visa and Mastercard offer important advantages. The Discover® Network, for example, is aimed particularly at frequent travellers: cardholders benefit from fee-free currency exchange, cashback programmes, and the opportunity to collect points and rewards.
In addition, the Discover® Network is represented in over 185 countries and regions¹ – thanks to numerous connected national card systems. Anyone who accepts this payment method in their online shop gains access to over 378 million cardholders² worldwide.
¹ Discover internal transaction data 2024 ² The total number of cards includes active cards in the Discover Network, DCI, and network alliances. Based on information from network participants and RBR Data Services, published in 2024.
Through the close partnership with the Discover Network, you can seamlessly integrate its entire world of cards with Payrexx. Since 2024, both the Discover® Network Card and Diners Club International® have been part of Payrexx Pay Plus, the payment service for merchants with international clientele. With these two payment methods, you can also accept other cards, such as Elo (Brazil), TROY (Turkey), or RuPay (India).
Digital wallets: PayPal and its international importance
Studies clearly show: PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods in international online retail. In Germany, according to a Statista survey (2023), 64 per cent of online buyers prefer to pay with PayPal. In England, according to ECDB (2024)⁶, it is as much as 82 per cent, and in France still 57 per cent, according to a survey by the payment provider mollie.
The mobile wallet scores particularly highly in terms of security and convenience: buyers can easily save their credit and debit cards and then pay with just a few clicks. PayPal is used especially online, as Inicio de sesión – once saved – can be used with a low barrier and without a complicated sign-up process. A flexibility that your online shop also benefits from.
To make it even easier for you to use PayPal, the integration with Payrexx was optimized last year. You can now create a new PayPal account directly through your Payrexx account and connect it seamlessly to your shop. PayPal will then be automatically displayed in the checkout – and your customers can pay with it worldwide.
Mobile wallets: More than just Google Pay or Apple Pay
Nowadays, the smartphone has become an indispensable companion. All the more reason to enable buyers from all over the world to pay directly with their mobile phone, whether online or on site. Mobile wallets have gained significant importance in recent years. According to the 2024 online retailer survey by ZHAW and FHNW, 24 per cent of Swiss Comerciante:innen now offer Apple Pay. Google Pay stands at 21 per cent, with an upward trend.
If you want to offer Google Pay, Apple Pay, or Samsung Pay with Payrexx, you can do so with just a few clicks. All three payment methods are fully integrated into the Payrexx Pay payment service. After verifying your account, you can activate them directly and have them displayed in the checkout.
Anyone who also wants to serve the Asian market should not forget Alipay and WeChat Pay at checkout. Both are considered indispensable for customers from this region of the world. Alipay is used regularly in China by around 93 per cent of the population, both online and in physical retail. This is shown by an infographic by Statista from 2021.
WeChat Pay is also one of the most widely used mobile payment solutions in Asia. The app allows users to send money directly to one another, and therefore works similarly to Swiss TWINT. According to an article by Marketingblatt, more than 1.3 billion Chinese people actively used the application in 2023. WeChat Pay is also available in 69 countries and regions, including Germany and Switzerland.
Alipay and WeChat Pay can be integrated directly via Payrexx. Both are part of the Payrexx Pay Plus payment service, which was specifically developed for international trade. After verifying your account, you can activate these and many other global payment methods with just a few clicks.
Instant Payment: Let customers pay directly with Pay by Bank
Relatively new but nevertheless a must, especially in the D-A-CH region, is so-called real-time transfer via bank account. Also known as instant payment, customers can pay for their goods directly via e-banking. The amount is deducted from them immediately, without having to obtain a credit card or create a login. It is this simplicity that is making instant payment increasingly popular in Germany in particular: in a Statista survey (2023), 25 per cent of respondents described bank transfer as their preferred payment method.
With Payrexx, you can easily offer Instant Payment – without any additional registration with a third-party provider. This is made possible by the specially developed payment method Pay by Bank. It is part of the Payrexx Pay payment service and can be activated directly after your account has been verified. Customers from Germany, Austria, and Italy can thus pay conveniently via their e-banking. You benefit from fast payments and low fees.
