Wero payment service for online purchases launched

The Wero payment service, launched by a European banking association, can now also be used for online shopping. The European Payments Initiative (EPI) announced this at an event in Frankfurt/Main.

Wero is currently available in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium and is based on the model of its US competitor Paypal
to date, direct mobile money payments from person to person. In the future, the service can also be used when shopping online, similar to credit cards or Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Paypal, Klarna or other comparable services.

46 million Wero users

After the launch of instant transfers between private individuals, Wero’s now more than 46 million users in Europe can now also use the solution for online shopping, including 1.3 million in Germany. On the banking side in this country, the savings banks and the Volks- and Raiffeisenbanks are on board. More are to follow in the coming weeks and months: initially Postbank and Deutsche Bank then ING
Germany and Revolut. Additional banks will be announced at a later date.

On the retailer side, a number of shop operators and service providers have announced that they will be introducing Wero. The ticket retailer CTS Eventim has already started. Others are in the starting blocks – including Decathlon, Lidl, Rossmann, Cewe
Cineplex, Zooplus, Hornbach Dott, Air Europa, Veepee as well as BAUR and Käfer.

Success depends on the network effect

Payment services thrive on the participation of many users and merchants. Depending on how many retailers accept Wero, success depends heavily on it. The EPI competes against a number of large and established brands: players such as Paypal, Visa and Mastercard
have large networks and high brand awareness. In addition, the advance of Apple Pay and Google Pay should be stopped. A role model is the smartphone payment solution Twint from Switzerland, which is very popular in the Alpine republic.

Wero has been slowed down so far by the fact that not all functions are yet active. This includes payment in the store at the checkout. This is only planned for 2026 and 2027.

“Wero has come to stay”

Joachim Schmalzl, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EPI, admitted at the event that Wero is facing challenges. But the service has already achieved a lot. “Wero has come to stay.” Success is based on common goals. Across Europe, banks, payment service providers and merchants worked together to achieve something that none of the institutions could do alone. “The introduction of Wero’s e-commerce solution marks another important milestone: a joint step towards a sovereign European payment system,” said Schmalzl, who is also a managing board member of the DSGV savings bank association.