The 8 most popular payment methods in the Nordics

If you are considering expanding your eCommerce business into a Nordic country, you need to know which payment methods your customers want.

Localization matters when it comes to payment methods

Having the right payment options is a crucial part for the decision process of many eCommerce customers. So much so, that according to a Radial study from 2023, 58% of all consumers consider multiple payment methods as essential when selecting their preferred eCommerce brand.

When choosing payment methods for your store, it’s always good to know your customer base and be aware of their preferred payment methods. This can differ widely for different demographics. On top, there’s a huge difference in popular payment methods depending on your market.

The so-called Nordics (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland), for example, are mostly highly digitized which also affects the most popular payment methods in these countries.

Your choice of acquirer can make the difference

By the way, if you have the option to choose one or more different acquirers, you could make a huge difference in some markets. There is only one acquirer (NETS) in Denmark that actually allows you to use Dankort, a very popular debit card payment system, so if you can get an agreement with this acquirer, you’re already one step ahead of the international competition that is tied to a different acquirer by their payment gateway.

The following results are based on Svea Ekonomi, HUI Research via Statista.

Country overview

Popular Payment Methods in Denmark

• Swish, Vipps and MobilePay (44%)
• Physical Credit Card (23%)
• Physical Debit Card (17%)
• Digital Wallet (9%)
• Direct Payment from Bank Account (5%)
• Invoice (2%)
• Installment Payment (1%)

Popular Payment Methods in Norway

• Swish, Vipps and MobilePay (31%)
• Physical Credit Card (18%)
• Physical Debit Card (16%)
• Invoice (13%)
• Digital Wallet (11%)
• Direct Payment from Bank Account (6%)
• Installment Payment (2%)

Popular Payment Methods in Sweden

• Swish, Vipps and MobilePay (29%)
• Invoice (21%)
• Physical Debit Card (13%)
• Physical Credit Card (12%)
• Direct Payment from Bank Account (12%)
• Digital Wallet (7%)
• Installment Payment (2%)

Popular Payment Methods in Finland

• Direct Payment from Bank Account (30%)
• Physical Debit Card (18%)
• Physical Credit Card (17%)
• Swish, Vipps and MobilePay (13%)
• Invoice (10%)
• Digital Wallet (7%)
• Installment Payment (3%)

As you can see, even within the Nordics, the different payment options can differ widely when it comes to popularity, with Finland being somewhat of an outlier preferring more “traditional” payment methods to modern digital options.

It goes to show that you should never underestimate how infrastructures, culture and habits can impact payment behavior across different countries.

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The Billwerk+ Pay payment gateway offers over 50 payment methods that cover popular options in the Nordics and other European countries. Get an overview or sign up for free to see what else the payment gateway has to offer.

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Overview of the most popular Payment Methods

VISA and Mastercard

Debit and credit card payments are commonly used in the Nordics, especially VISA and Mastercard. This global payment method has users all over the world, and is a recommended payment option to offer when you’re doing online business in the Nordics, as a big part of the population are active card users. 

Of the Nordic countries, card payments are most common in Denmark when shopping online. When doing business in Denmark, you want to offer the customers payments with Dankort, a quite common Danish debit card co-branded with VISA. In Norway, the consumers also use a popular VISA co-branded card you want to offer your Norwegian customers; BankAxept. Swedes and Finns mostly use VISA and Mastercard as credit and debit cards.

Bank Transfers

Invoices and bank transfers are commonly used, and are in many instances merged with other payment methods like the Swedish innovations Klarna and Trustly. Trustly lets the consumer pay directly from their online bank in a secure way – they don’t need to give the e-tailer their bank information, as Trustly is the gate protecting them. In Finland, bank transfer is the most popular payment method, so you want to offer your Finnish customers bank transfers.

Klarna

When it comes to online shopping, which is very common in the Nordics, Klarna has adapted to the consumer’s wants and needs, and offers several different ways for the consumer to pay. It’s especially common in Sweden, where Klarna is one of the most used payment methods. Klarna is a great option for Buy Now Pay Later, which is becoming more and more popular among the consumers. They’re also integrated with other payment methods, such as card payment, bank transfers and Swish. Basically, if you offer Klarna you cover several payment methods in one.

Mobile Payment Apps

As the Nordic countries are becoming more cashless, mobile payment apps are becoming increasingly popular. Each country prefers their own mobile payment app, so when you’re doing business in Sweden, you should consider offering Swish as a payment method, as more than 8 million Swedes use Swish to transfer money almost every day. 

When doing business in Denmark, the mobile payment app you want to offer is MobilePay, used by 4 million Danes. MobilePay is not only used in Denmark, it’s also a well-used payment method in Finland. For your Norwegian customers, you should offer their popular mobile payment app Vipps, which over half the population uses.

Digital wallets – Apple Pay and Google Pay

When talking about mobile payment apps, we also have to mention the rising popularity of Apple Pay and Google Pay. Available in many countries, it’s a payment method on the rise. Using a digital wallet like this, you don’t need to carry cash or cards, which makes it convenient to the user. For recurring payments, you can also offer your customers Apple Pay Recurring.

Paypal

In the Nordics, Paypal is most popular in Finland, and even though it is not quite as commonly used in the other Nordic countries Paypal still has a lot of users who trust and like this payment method. It is also a globally common payment method, so PayPal is a generally known and trusted method.

ViaBill

A Danish payment solution for small and medium-sized e-commerce companies, ViaBill is an online payment solution where the customer can Buy Now Pay Later, for up to 24 months. When making online business in Denmark, it’s a good idea to offer ViaBill as a payment method. 

SEPA

With the Single Euro Payments Area – SEPA – it’s possible to make Euro payments via transfer and direct debit to anywhere in the European Union. SEPA is available in all the European Union countries. It’s not widely known in the Nordics yet, but is a payment method that should be considered.

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Billwerk+ Pay is the ideal payment gateway to provide your eCommerce business with over 50 payment methods that cater to different countries and markets across Europe (and beyond). Additionally, we are acquirer-independent which can help you choose the acquirers that will further support your market strategy (and have the best rates).

Test out Billwerk+ Pay for free and see, how easy it is to configure and integrate.