The Nordic countries in Europe are widely recognized as being extremely modern and digitally savvy nations. In fact, a popular opinion in the payments space is that the Nordic countries will become the first “cashless” societies, clearly conveying the importance of digital payments in the region. This is also illustrated by the fact that 84.65% of Swedes shop online, making it the number one e-commerce embracing population in the world. According to the same report, Norway ranks as the second largest e-commerce market in terms of revenue per shopper. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Nordics are an attractive region for cross-border merchants and knowing about the local payment methods is imperative for expanding into these digital nations.

In the Nordics, online shopping is extremely widespread, making it an appealing region to expand into for e-commerce merchants. However, knowing what are the most popular payment methods here, is crucial for successful entry. In this blog, we will discuss all you need to know about payment methods in the Nordics.

Sweden

Starting with the largest e-commerce market, Sweden represents significant opportunities for online merchants, with an annual market spending of 30 billion euros. According to a JPMorgan report, mobiles are the main shopping channel in Sweden, with half of all purchases being completed on mobile devices rather than desktops. Moreover, even though the fintech culture is exceptionally strong in Sweden, credit & debit cards such as Mastercard and Visa, remain the most popular online payment method with 38% of the sales. However, this payment method is expected to be replaced by bank transfers in the near future, due to three Swedish innovations: Swish, Klarna and Trustly.

Swish was first launched by six large Swedish banks and was originally intended for P2P transactions.However it soon got adopted as an instant mobile payment solution for online shopping, mobile apps and QR-code payments. In 2019, Swish became the most preferred payment method online among 18–40 year olds, and in 2020 it was used by almost 8 million Swedes. In fact, the adoption of the app has been so successful that “to swish” (in Swedish swisha) became a common verb used in the day-to-day language! Clearly, when expanding into Sweden one must seriously consider having Swish as a payment method.
Trusty is another popular payment method, which allows customers to make payments directly from their bank account. It is greatly valued for its convenience and security as shoppers never have to leave the merchant’s site to enter their bank details. Lastly, the domestic brand Klarna is also widely reputed among the Swedes, as well as other Scandinavian countries and has become a key alternative payment method to complete purchases in instalments or pay later.

Denmark

With an e-commerce market worth 19 billion euro, Denmark is another attractive country for cross-border merchants. As a matter of fact, online shopping already makes up nearly 11% of all retail spending in Denmark and this figure is expected to grow in the future. Danes prefer to shop on a computer with 55% of them doing so, with mobile commerce close behind at 45%.
In terms of payment methods, cards overwhelmingly dominate – mostly because of Dankort, the national debit card. Dankort is also typically co-branded with Visa, allowing it to be used internationally. Hence, cross-border merchants tapping into the Danish market can use the Visa processing route, although it is important to keep in mind that not all Dankorts are co-branded.
Following cards, digital wallets are the second most popular payment method where once again, a domestic player, MobilePay prevails. It was developed by Danske Bank and quickly adopted by most Danish shoppers. Actually, MobilePay has 4 million users, which is more than 80% of the whole Danish population. Fun fact: Danes consider MobilePay to be the most indispensable app on their phones, outranking Facebook, Instagram and all other social media apps! Undoubtedly, no further explanation is needed for the importance of MobilePay in the Danish e-commerce.