Shopify Payment Options: Expanding Beyond Credit Cards to Increase Conversions

How Payment Options Affect Conversion Rate

11% of checkout abandonments occur because the customer’s preferred payment method was not available. For UK stores, this means offering: Shopify Payments (Visa, Mastercard, Amex), PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and at least one buy-now-pay-later option. Stores that add PayPal to a Shopify Payments-only checkout see average CVR improvements of 3–8% from the customer segment that prefers not to enter card details on an unfamiliar store.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

BNPL options (Klarna, Clearpay, Laybuy, PayPal Pay in 3) allow customers to split purchases into 3–4 interest-free instalments. Key impact: AOV increases 30–50% for BNPL users compared to card payments on the same product. Customers buying a £150 item at “£50/month for 3 months” perceive it as a completely different purchase decision than £150 upfront. For higher-AOV categories (fashion, home, electronics, fitness equipment), BNPL is a significant conversion and AOV lever.

UK BNPL regulation is evolving — Klarna and similar services are being brought under FCA regulation. This means more compliance requirements for the BNPL providers, but for merchants, the primary implication is ensuring any BNPL option you display is from a properly authorised provider. Check Klarna and Clearpay’s UK authorisation status before adding them to your checkout.

Apple Pay and Google Pay

Dynamic checkout buttons — Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay — appear on product pages before the customer even reaches cart. These one-tap payment methods bypass the full checkout flow, reducing friction at the critical add-to-cart decision point. Stores using dynamic checkout buttons see 35–50% of mobile purchases complete via these buttons rather than the standard checkout. Enable them in Shopify Payments settings.

Shop Pay

Shop Pay is Shopify’s own accelerated checkout. Customers who have used Shop Pay on any Shopify store can check out on yours with a single confirmation code — no need to re-enter shipping and card details. Shop Pay users have 1.72x higher conversion rates than standard checkout users (Shopify internal data), primarily because the friction of entering payment details on a new site is eliminated. It is enabled by default with Shopify Payments.

International Payment Methods

For stores selling internationally, local payment methods matter significantly. In the Netherlands, iDEAL is used for 69% of online transactions. In Germany, SEPA Direct Debit and Sofort are widely used. In Scandinavia, Swish and Vipps dominate. Shopify Payments supports local payment methods in markets where they are available — activate them in your Shopify Payments settings for each market you serve.