Europe wants to reduce its dependence on international payment providers. With Wero, the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a consortium of European banks and payment service providers, has developed its own solution. But technical infrastructure alone does not make a payment method successful. What matters is whether merchants integrate it and whether consumers actually use it.
In July, Decathlon Germany became the first major sporting goods retailer to introduce the new European payment system in its online store. For the European sporting goods industry, this could make Decathlon a key test case for Wero. Around the same time, Lidl/Schwarz Group also announced that it would accept the European payment solution online.
Two major retailers in two different sectors: an indication, at least, that Wero is gaining relevance in retail. But is that enough to drive broader adoption? And what exactly is behind those four letters?
What is Wero?
Wero is a European digital payment solution developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI). Unlike card-based systems, Wero uses account-to-account payments: funds are transferred via instant payment directly from the customer’s bank account to the merchant. The payment is authorized through the banking app of a participating bank or through Wero, eliminating the need for customers to provide card details to the merchant.
Wero launched in 2024, initially offering only person-to-person payments. The service has since expanded into e-commerce, with plans to extend it to point-of-sale payments and additional services. And unlike payment solutions backed by a single tech company, Wero is supported by a consortium of European banks and payment service providers.
Its potential reach is already substantial. According to EPI, more than 75 percent of retail banking customers in Germany, France and Belgium have access to Wero. But this is precisely where the challenge begins: Technical availability does not equal actual usage.
For retailers, there is another question: What tangible value does yet another payment option add to an already crowded checkout?
Decathlon Germany integrated Wero into its online store this summer, making Germany a pilot market within the international Decathlon Group. For now, Wero is limited to e-commerce, while integration at physical store checkouts is under evaluation.
Patrick Müller, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at Decathlon Germany, spoke with SGI Europe about the company’s experience during the first weeks following implementation and the role financial incentives can play in driving adoption.
SGI Europe: Mr. Müller, Decathlon is linking the launch of Wero to its membership program. What tangible benefit does Wero offer customers compared with established payment methods such as credit cards or PayPal?
Patrick Müller: The tangible benefit is directly linked to our loyalty program: As part of a promotion starting Oct. 1, we will reward every online purchase made via Wero with 5,500 Decathlon Membership points, equivalent to €10. During the promotional period, Wero users therefore receive additional points on top of the standard points earned with other payment methods.
To our knowledge, the six-week promotion is being funded entirely by EPI rather than Decathlon. How do you assess this financial incentive, and what do you expect Wero usage to look like once the promotion ends?
Patrick Müller: Promotions like this provide customers with a strong incentive to try a new payment method in a simple and straightforward way. For long-term adoption, in other words, for Wero to become part of consumers’ habitual payment behavior, broad availability across retail is crucial. The fact that other major market players are also integrating Wero strengthens the ecosystem over the long term. The more naturally Wero can be used in everyday transactions, the more stable usage is likely to remain once the initial incentives end.
Decathlon operates around 110 stores in Germany. Wero is currently available only at the online checkout. When could it also be introduced at the physical point of sale, and how much does this depend on EPI’s technical roadmap versus Decathlon’s own investment?
Patrick Müller: Integration at the physical point of sale is currently under evaluation. The exact timeline depends on several factors, particularly our internal development capacity and EPI’s technical roadmap for brick-and-mortar retail.
Average transaction values in the sporting goods industry are often higher than, for example, in grocery retail. How does that affect your expectations for Wero adoption?
Patrick Müller: We see Wero, as an account-to-account payment method (A2A), as a very attractive alternative, particularly for higher-value baskets. With traditional payment methods, the risk for payment service providers increases as transaction values rise, which can occasionally lead to lower acceptance rates. Wero, by contrast, enables direct and highly secure payment from the customer’s bank account. We therefore see real potential for Wero in the premium sporting goods segment.
What impact has Wero had on cart abandonment and checkout conversion since its introduction on July 20? Do you already have any initial figures?
Patrick Müller: Performance so far has fully met our expectations. We are seeing encouragingly strong interest at the online checkout. In some cases, customers who initially select Wero still switch to another payment method later in the process, primarily because their bank has not yet fully integrated Wero. As EPI continues to expand bank coverage, we expect completion rates to increase steadily.
And how does Wero handle returns and refunds?
Patrick Müller: The returns process is already fully integrated. When an order paid for with Wero is returned to our logistics center, the refund is transferred directly back to the customer’s bank account via instant payment.
Germany is a pilot market within the international Decathlon Group. What criteria will determine whether Wero is rolled out in markets such as France or Spain?
Patrick Müller: As a pilot market, we are currently testing Wero under real-world e-commerce conditions in Germany; Wero is also already live in Belgium. Any decision to roll it out in additional European markets will depend largely on local e-commerce conditions, the availability of the service in each market and specific customer usage patterns.
What does the broader market look like?
Decathlon’s experience shows how Wero currently works in the online checkout of a major sporting goods retailer and what the company expects from the new payment method. But determining whether Wero can achieve broader adoption across European retail requires looking beyond a single company.
SGI Europe therefore also approached other retailers outside the sporting goods industry, as well as key players behind Wero. Schwarz Group, which owns Lidl and introduced Wero to its online checkout this summer, declined to comment despite repeated requests.
At EPI, efforts to find a direct press contact led to an AI assistant that was unable to properly process SGI Europe’s specific journalistic questions. Deutsche Bank, a founding member of EPI and itself a Wero provider, also failed to respond to repeated inquiries.
Current market data, however, provides a clearer picture of how far Wero has actually penetrated the consumer market.
Between reach and actual usage
Under the headline “9 Million Activations, Barely Any Payments: Why Wero Remains a Ghost Service in Germany,”t3nwriter Ulrike Barth analyzed Wero’s development in mid-August. Due to continued reader interest, the article was republished in September. The figures illustrate just how wide the gap between awareness, activation and actual usage remains.
One of the sources is a representative Innofact survey commissioned by Verivox in July. Nearly one-third of respondents had never heard of Wero. Only 39 percent correctly identified Wero as a payment service, while another 23 percent recognized the name but did not know what it was.
The usage figures are even more telling: 14 percent of respondents already have a checking account enabled for Wero. Yet fewer than seven percent have actually used the service for money transfers or online purchases. While that figure has increased from around four percent the previous year, the low level of actual usage highlights how much time account-to-account payments may need to break deeply entrenched credit card and PayPal habits in e-commerce.
EPI, by contrast, reports 57 million registered Wero users across Europe, including nine million in Germany. But the figures are not directly comparable: Being registered or enabled for Wero does not mean actually using it.
That distinction could ultimately determine Wero’s success. Retailers need to be willing to integrate an additional payment method into their systems. Consumers, in turn, need enough opportunities to use Wero in their everyday lives.
Merchant adoption remains limited. The more often Wero appears at checkout, the greater the chance that activation will turn into a payment habit.
Decathlon, Lidl and a growing number of other retailers show that momentum is building. But Wero is still a long way from widespread acceptance. Verivox Managing Director Oliver Maier describes adoption by well-known online retailers as an important first step, but sees the decisive benefit for consumers emerging only once Wero can be used as a matter of course both online and at the physical point of sale.
Consumers themselves also remain skeptical: 58 percent of respondents do not believe Wero will succeed in the long term against established competitors such as PayPal, Visa or Mastercard. The youngest age group, however, paints a more optimistic picture: Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 53 percent believe Wero could eventually overtake established providers.
The SGIE take: European ambition alone is not enough
So can Wero turn European ambition into European adoption?
That question remains unanswered.
Europe’s ambition to build its own alternative to the dominant international payment systems is understandable. And with retailers such as Decathlon and Lidl on board, Wero is gaining visibility and relevance. But the real test is only just beginning: Technical availability must translate into actual usage, and a handful of major retail partners must turn into broad market acceptance.
To achieve that, Wero needs to convince retailers and consumers alike. Financial incentives can help encourage people to try a new payment method.
But they will not be enough in the long run. Wero needs to be readily available in everyday transactions and offer tangible value beyond simply being a European alternative to PayPal, Visa or Mastercard.
Adoption is also a matter of trust. And trust requires transparency and dialogue, particularly at a stage when retailers and consumers still need to be convinced to use a new system. An AI assistant in the press section that cannot properly handle a journalistic inquiry is no substitute for that dialogue, nor are unanswered media requests.
The stress test is therefore underway. Decathlon has shown that Wero can be integrated into the checkout of a major sporting goods retailer.
Whether that translates into a new payment habit, however, will not be decided by a single retailer or a time-limited promotion. It will depend on whether the payment system can persuade enough retailers and consumers not only to support the idea of a European alternative, but to actually use it.
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