How to accept Visa or Mastercard in Europe? The complete guide
Bank cards are currently called "The must-have standard" of payment. They have been around since the 20s. Since then, we have seen the creation of corporate credit cards, debit and deferred debit cards, and even virtual credit cards. Contactless payments have become essential to the modern economy. And all over the world, merchants can rely only on cards to accept payments from their customers and make a profit.
According to statistics, 99% of customers can complete their transactions if the merchant offers these 3 payment methods: Visa/Mastercard - PayPal - Bank transfer.
In this article, we will detail the importance of accepting bank cards (credit cards, debit cards or other kinds), as well as the steps that will allow you to integrate them in-store or e-commerce (Example of Visa card).
Visa and Mastercard payments in Europe:
Card payments are very common in Europe:
97 billion transactions were processed via credit cards and prepaid cards issued across Europe in 2019.
Nearly 60% of all these transactions were done with Visa cards, while MasterCard made up for 39 percent of the market share.
The market shares of Visa and Mastercard vary across these 11 different European countries in 2020. Visa was the largest card issuer in Ireland and the UK, with more than 80% in both countries. Mastercard’s market share on the other hand, was 88% and 70% in the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively.
Where is Visa - Mastercard popular the most in Europe?
The preferred payment method in many European countries is undoubtedly the bank card. Easy to use, accepted by all merchants. In addition, all cards issued in recent years allow contactless payment. Without entering the card’s PIN code, the customer can pay for purchases up to 50 € just by hovering the card over the POS terminal.
The contactless payment method is appreciated by both merchants and users because it reduces the waiting time at the checkout and guarantees an increased comfort of use compared to a classic card payment.
Why accept Visa cards on your store?
The reasons to accept Visa on your physical store or e-commerce are very simple:
Visa is the largest card network in the world: Visa cards are issued in more than 200 countries.
3.8 billion Visa cards are in circulation.
In 2021, 232.5 billion purchase transactions worldwide are made through Visa payment cards.
Visa recorded $13 billion in transaction volume in 2021.
Visa provides merchants with insured payments with greater customer reach; and provides consumers with a safe and convenient way to pay.
How to accept Visa in physical store or e-commerce?
Choose payment gateway:
A successful payment integration starts with choosing the right payment gateway and what it can offer you as solutions and services. It is the entity that allows merchants to accept payments in their stores. The payment gateway has an authorization to process your transactions and serves as a facilitator of payments between the merchant and the customer.
Choosing the right payment gateway is based on several factors:
Integration methods
1- Accept Visa in physical store:
Through the POS terminal:
The POS is the device that allows you to collect card transactions. With POS, you can offer several payment methods to your customers. It can be used to accept credit cards, debit cards, and contactless payment methods, such as Apple Pay.
The customer can then hover his card over the POS to pay contactless or insert the card to enter his PIN code. Many POS terminals offer omnichannel selling tools that provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers, whether they're in your store or browsing on their smartphones.
By using Silkpay's TPE, the processing refunds is also made easier. It also allows you to track returns, refunds, and retrocessions.
2- Accept Visa in e-commerce
API integration:
This mainly concerns e-commerce stores. The integration of a payment method on your online store can be done either via an API integration, or via a payment plugin on a CMS such as WooCommerce, Prestashop or Wordpress.
Most payment solution providers offer detailed documentation on their API that allows you to integrate the desired payment methods on your e-commerce. This is also the case for Silkpay. We give you access to all the detailed documentation as well as a very helpful customer support in case of need or integration problem.
By choosing to integrate Visa - Mastecard or any other payment method with Silkpay, you are choosing a solution that will not make your payment process tedious. Your customers can pay on your online store securely by choosing the payment method of their choice.
Payment Plugins:
Another obstacle that needs to be addressed is choosing a quality plugin for your e-commerce website. Silkpay offers 2 payment plugins for Prestashop and WooCommerce.
Silkpay's plugins allow merchants to securely and easily accept all payment methods around the world such as Visa - Mastercard - PayPal - , as well as the Chinese giant e-wallets Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Our plugins are an all-in-one solution designed to help merchants reach all their customers, anywhere and regardless of the payment methods they prefer.
3- Accept Visa through paybyLink
If you have no technical knowledge, the payment method "PaybyLink" is the easiest to integrate Visa - Mastercard or any payment method. The merchant creates a payment link on his backoffice or his Silkpay app, and sends it to the customer via any channel (social media, sms, email ...). The customer chooses the payment method of his choice and pays for his purchases securely.
The price
There are no maintenance fees. Silkpay's pricing is based solely on commission. Silkpay also offers the most competitive rates on the market.
Security
Security is the most important factor in choosing the payment solution. A high fraud rate will lead to colossal losses for your business and your customers.
Silkpay is committed to ensuring secure transactions for its merchants and their customers. Our technical teams work to achieve the highest level of security by allowing you to offer the best shopping experience to your customers.
How to open a payment account to accept Visa or Mastercard?
What you need to prepare:To start accepting Visa cards on your store (in-store or e-commerce), you need to create an account with Silkpay. For this, you can now send the list of documents below to contact@silkpay.fr:
Your company’s registration certificate
The articles of association (signed and sealed)
Identification documents and proofs of address (administrative invoice for example) dating from less than three months of legal representative and shareholders (holding > 10% of capital or voting right)
The company’s bank account number
Your account will be opened 48 hours after the processing of your documents.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you are an association or an auto-entrepreneur or if you have any questions about the documents to be provided.
About the author: Silkpay
Founded in 2016, Silkpay is a fintech company and provider of customised payment solutions in Europe, headquartered in Paris (France). Silkpay offers secure omnichannel payment solutions that enable physical stores and e-commerce stores in Europe and the United States to use the world's most popular payment methods: Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, CB, PayPal, Google Pay, as well as bank transfers and direct debits.
Silkpay is a winner of the LVMH Innovation Award and was present at the LVMH stand at Vivatech in 2019. The company was also selected as a finalist for the "Money 2020" Best Startup and in the "MPE Berlin" Startup Awards. Silkpay also won the "Best Fintech" awards from Capgemini and BPCE.
Silkpay helps merchants deliver the smoothest payment experience to their customers. We are a talented and international team driven by a single goal: to improve the customer experience and make payments simple and secure.
Sources:
https://ecommercenews.eu/online-payment-methods-europe/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1116580/payment-card-scheme-market-share-in-europe-by-country/