Elavon, a global payments provider and PPRO Group, a cross-border e-payment specialist, today announced a partnership to offer international alternative payment methods (APMs) to Elavon’s customers across Europe to expand their global reach.

The partnership with PPRO strengthens Elavon’s existing European acquiring proposition, allowing its customers’ shoppers to choose their preferred local payment method when shopping online including direct debit, bank transfers, cash-based e-payments, and e-wallets. Elavon provides a single integration and customer service experience for both domestic and international payments processing. Elavon’s customers will now be able to add more than 50 preferred local and international payment methods to ensure they get the best transaction conversion rates.

Boston Consulting Group estimates that by 2025, annual global cross-border eCommerce revenues could increase to between $250 billion and $350 billion—up from about $80 billion in 2014. PPRO Group’s recent research, conducted in cooperation with Edgar, Dunn and Company, reveals that in many markets 50 percent or more of existing online transactions use local payment methods, sometimes even unfamiliar to Western and global companies. In the UK, for example, consumers are very card centric with cards accounting for 52 percent of all eCommerce transactions in 2017, but this isn’t the case for e-commerce markets overseas. In Germany, card payments only account for 12 percent of eCommerce payments with 51 percent of consumers preferring bank transfers, whereas in China 49 percent of eCommerce payments are via e-wallets.

Hannah Fitzsimons, General Manager for Elavon Europe comments: “Global cross-border eCommerce revenues are increasing rapidly, and alternative payment methods are becoming a must have for retailers as they strive to compete. Taking local payment trends into account is vital for our customers as they need to ensure their shoppers can pay using their preferred local payment method to get the best payment conversion rates. We are excited to be partnering with PPRO, an expert in APMs, to provide the largest selection of payment options for our customers so their customers can shop seamlessly online across borders.”

Ronnie d’Arienzo, PPRO’s Chief Sales Officer comments: “Merchants must be aware of the local payment preferences in different countries to meet their customers’ needs and reap the rewards of cross border sales. There is life beyond credit cards. Customers want to use their preferred payment methods, otherwise they will simply shop elsewhere. We are really pleased to be in partnership with Elavon to help its customers provide local and international payment methods to their cross-border customers and ultimately become global retailers.”