In case you own an international online marketplace app and thinking about the ways to integrate European online payment systems there, you might find this article handy.
Let’s get started with the most popular online payment methods by country and region and then touch upon online payment systems comparison and the ways to perform mobile app payment gateway integration.
Klarna
We can surely call Klarna group one of the most popular payment methods in Europe. Klarna was founded in 2005 in Sweden and now is one of the most trusted Europe’s finance-related companies.
Klarna is served in 18 countries, among them are:
Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and the US. Among the most avid users are Nordic countries and Western Europe.
Klarna group includes such subsidiaries: SOFORT, Billpay GmbH , Klarna Inc.
Nearly 40% of all e-commerce sales in Sweden goes through Klarna. Apart from this, Klarna’s e-commerce market share in Northern Europe is 10 % .
Let’s take a look at the stats on Northern Europe e-commerce and preferred payment methods by countries :
Source: Worldline
What about the tech? How to add Klarna payment gateway on my website?
Are you up to integrate your website or online marketplace app with Klarna? You should definitely check out Klarna Developers website, where they describe the ways to connect your product to their payment solutions.
First of all, you should choose what type of Klarna’s functionality you’re up to integrate into your website or online marketplace app. Are you going to accept Klarna payments? Or make checkouts on your website?
If what you choose to adopt Payments, there is a detailed tutorial on how to do this.
The most important part is payment widget integration, for this, you can use the following components:
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JavaScript SDK for client-side interaction with Klarna widget.
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And a REST API for server-side order creation
Here’s also payment system implementation scheme.
Klarna Developer resource recommends to try how the checkout mechanism works first, using demo store.
You can try out the payments workflow using Karna’s test website.
When integrating with Klarna payment system, make sure, you’ve completed each key stage included in this process:
As of checkout integrations , there are 3 key stages you should pass through.
The major part of this European online payment system implementation is made using Klarna SDK . If you’re up to perform mobile app payment gateway integration with any mobile OS (Android, iOS), here’s also a mobile SDK .
The process of checkout integrations contains lots of nuances and levels with sublevels:
Please, refer to Klarna API resource for more information on this payment system integration. If we take a closer look at online payment systems comparison by tech implementation, Klarna should be one of most smoothly-integrated systems.
Trustly
Another Swedish payment system and one of the most popular payment methods in Europe. As of 2016, Trustly could boast by the number of users; the service has collected ~ 67 m users through the integration with +100 European banks. It is active in 29 European countries. As it’s stated on Trustly’s website, the number of transactions processed on a monthly basis in 2016, reached 2 million.
Getting to the web and mobile app payment gateway integration part
Trustly offers two ways of integration:
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Via specialized integration module (mostly meant for CMSs and shopping cart platforms)
The list of supported Trustly plugins:
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Via API (for static platform)
There are 6 key stages to integrate your online marketplace app or website with Trustly:
Skrill
This is another Europe-recognized payment system of British origin. In 2013 Skrill acquired Paysafecard, and a year later, Skrill merged with Ukash. Now, this alliance is one of the most powerful online payment systems in the UK and abroad. Skrill counts +36 m users and operates in 200 countries.
Skrill's & PaySafecard's preference geography:
Do you want Skrill online payment system to serve your customers? Here are things you should know about
In general, you can integrate four major Skrill features, They are:
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Quick checkout. A secured payment page, where your customers receive access to various payment methods, based on their location. After that, they can choose Skrill as a transaction method and perform a payment. Please, check Skrill’s PDF on how to integrate Quick checkout to your marketplace platform as a payment solution.
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Wallet checkout. When purchasing in your store backed with Skrill, a customer that owns Skrill wallet, can simply sign in to their account via a personal email and quickly perform payments. This is a payment gateway which collects customer’s info and is based on the standard HTML forms. Refer to Skrill’s specially created PDF on Wallet checkout integration , in case you’d like to tie this payment solution to your online marketplace.
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Automated payment interface. Which, after integration enables the following actions in your online marketplace:
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Wallet payments
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Refunds
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Send money to another Skrill Account
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View payment and transaction statuses
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Mass payment. A feature that enables you to make payments in multiple currencies to a maximum of 3000 recipients in a single procedure. Skrill account. Such type of payments can be made using the Customer account administration portal screen (My Account) or via the Automated Payments Interface (API).
Apart from this, it is possible to integrate Skrill with the following shopping carts:
You can find separate guides on how to add Skrill to any shopping card mentioned above on their integration page .
Ideal
If to consider the most popular online payment methods by country, it’s a payment system available only in the Netherlands but with ~ 1 billion of online payments made already. Here are some other iDeal stats:
Source: iDeal payments
Before the integration of iDeal with your online marketplace app, make sure that the bank at your location supports iDeal payment system:
To get a clearer picture of this payment system, take a look at how iDeal works:
Apart from this, iDeal offers post payment option. It means that a merchant can send the iDeal post payment link to their customer using either different social media, email or SMS:
Source: Post payments via an iDEAL payment link
But before the implementation, ensure that you’ve read ‘Rules for using an iDEAL payment request.’
iDeal also offers mobile app payment gateway integration. Take a look at their demo .
Mollie. Payment service provider for the European online payment systems
This is the Netherlands-based payment solution and integrates with the world-known online payment methods in Europe. In fact, it’s a payment service provider, that works with various online and offline payment solutions, like PayPal, iDeal (in the Netherlands only), Mastercard, Bitcoin, Visa, Sofort, and others. Right now, Mollie is active in 5 countries: Benelux countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) and Germany along with France.
At Apiko we’ve dealt with Mollie integration in one event management marketplace app to accept iDeal payments. This app allows you to invite guests to your home for having a meal together or you can be as a guest and look for and then drop by the event someone else’s planning.
In general, Mollie offers two solutions:
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Payment methods/systems integration.
After you’ve integrated Mollie within your online marketplace app or website, you automatically allow your customers to pay with the world-recognized and European online payment systems, we’ve mentioned earlier. Don’t forget to check Mollie’s page on payments integration to get the full list of supported transaction platforms. We’ve connected food marketplace app to Mollie via API. That’s actually a single way to go for this process.
Their integration guide covers the implementation of the following Mollie’s functionality in your online marketplace app:
Pay closer attention to Mollie API working scheme:
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Recurring payments collection
Works with various subscription plans and allows you to charge your customers on a regular basis (depending on your pricing plan terms and conditions).
In ‘Recurring payments’ part , there’re detailed descriptions on how to set up this solution for your product via API.
What we couldn’t omit is the way Mollie has organized their API references. Truly, it’s a developer’s happiness.
Each API contains the info you need to integrate this or that Mollie’s functionality.
Our personal recommendation is that, when dealing with the integration of the most popular payment methods in Europe, rely to the official guidelines only during the web and mobile app payment gateway integration, if there’re such (but usually serious businesses have these, so it shouldn’t be a problem). In case you have trouble which requires more thorough attention, contact the team of this or that payment service and clarify your questions.
Summary
As you can see, there are various reliable european online payment systems and solutions for online marketplace apps. Each of them is unique in their own way. As much as the integration methods are. For developers - read thoroughly service’s documentation and act according to each detail described in the instructions, and in result, you'll receive smooth integration. For online marketplace owners - choose a payment solution you trust the most and which is effortless to implement. If you’re looking for European online payment systems comparison, list of the most popular online payment methods by country and the ways to perform web and mobile app payment gateway integration, we hope that this article has helped you.
Instead of P.S.: Don't forget to drop by our portfolio, where we describe not only our online marketplace apps development cases but also integrations with various 3rd party services.