Modern payment methods are gaining ground in European e-commerce, according to the E-Commerce Report 2009 by Deutsche Card Services (DCS). While more than 80% of all purchases are still paid for by credit card, the market shares of Maestro and giropay have risen again. Maestro now ranks third of the preferred online payment methods in Europe and giropay has a market share of more than 3% in Europe as a whole, even though this new online payment method was not introduced until 2006.
The research, which is based on real-life transactions, also found:
- British consumers already pay for one out of 10 transactions via Maestro. In contrast to their British counterparts, the Maestro or EC cards issued in Germany are not yet equipped for online payment. German consumers still prefer direct debits, even though their popularity is declining. Outside Germany and the UK, i.e. in the rest of Europe, the market share of other payment methods than credit cards is almost zero.
- Visa has increased its market share in European e-commerce at the expense of MasterCard. Visa is used for more than 70% of all online transactions paid for by credit card. That means that Visa has steadily increased its market share by a total of almost 8pp since 2004/05. Its competitor MasterCard only has a share of 27.5% today, down from more than 32% three years ago.
- Despite their lower market shares, buyers who use MasterCard or other credit cards generate higher average transaction values than Visa users. giropay has the largest market share in transaction values above €500.
- Men and women use different payment methods in e-commerce. The difference is particularly striking for German consumers: while men use credit cards for more than 40% of their purchases, making it their preferred payment method, women continue to use the more traditional direct debit method.
