Ecommerce payment gateways: 2024 trends

Payment is the most critical moment of the online shopping experience. According to various industry studies, the average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is above 70%, and a significant share of those abandonments happens at checkout, when the payment process is confusing, slow or doesn’t offer the customer’s preferred payment method.

Choosing the right ecommerce payment gateway isn’t just a technical decision: it’s a strategic decision that directly affects your revenue. In this article we compare the main options on the market, look at new trends in digital payments and set out the key criteria for making the best choice for your online store.

What is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway is the technology that connects your online store with financial institutions to process transactions securely. When a customer enters their card details or chooses an alternative payment method, the gateway:

1. Encrypts the customer’s payment data to keep it secure in transit.
2. Sends the authorization request to the card-issuing bank through the relevant card network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.).
3. Receives the bank’s response (approved or declined) and passes it on to the merchant and the customer.
4. Settles the funds into the merchant’s account, usually within 1 to 3 business days.

The gateway acts as a trusted intermediary that ensures the customer’s financial data is handled securely and that the merchant gets paid reliably. Without it, processing card payments online securely and at scale would be impossible.

The main payment gateways in the Spanish market

Stripe

Stripe has become the payment gateway of choice for tech companies and startups worldwide, and its presence in Spain keeps growing. Its main strength is an extremely well-documented API that’s easy to integrate, so you can implement payments in hours, not weeks.

Stripe’s advantages:

• Fast, flexible integration: a modern API with SDKs for all major languages (JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, Go). Its documentation is an industry benchmark.
• Stripe Elements: prebuilt UI components that embed in your checkout with a customizable, native look, without redirecting the user to an external page.
• Complete dashboard: a control panel with payment analytics, dispute management, data exports and reconciliation tools.
• Multi-currency support: accepts payments in more than 135 currencies and handles conversion automatically.
• Built-in recurring payments: Stripe Billing natively manages subscriptions, plans, free trials and recurring invoicing.
• Fraud prevention: Stripe Radar uses advanced fraud detection models trained on data from millions of transactions worldwide.

Stripe’s fees depend on the payment method, the country and your contract terms. Check its current pricing and also review the costs of refunds and disputes.

Redsys

Redsys is the dominant payment gateway in Spain, used by virtually every Spanish bank. If your bank is Spanish, your virtual POS (card payment terminal) almost certainly runs on Redsys infrastructure.

Redsys advantages:

• Trust and recognition: Spanish consumers are familiar with the Redsys payment page, which builds trust.
• Negotiable fees: because you contract the virtual POS through your bank, fees can be negotiated and tend to be competitive at high volumes.
• Native 3D Secure support: full integration with the strong customer authentication (SCA) required by the EU’s PSD2 regulation.
• No third-party dependency: funds are settled directly into your bank account with no intermediaries.

Redsys disadvantages:

• More complex integration: the technical documentation is less modern and integration takes more effort than with gateways like Stripe.
• Limited features: it doesn’t natively offer advanced analytics, recurring payments or subscription management.
• Bank dependency: contracting, setup and support all go through the bank, which can slow things down.

PayPal

PayPal is the most widely recognized online payment method in the world, with more than 400 million active accounts. Offering PayPal at checkout can significantly increase conversion rates, especially for international transactions, thanks to the trust it inspires in consumers.

PayPal offers several integration options:

• PayPal Checkout: customers pay with their PayPal account or with a credit or debit card, without needing a PayPal account.
• PayPal Commerce Platform: a complete solution for marketplaces, with split payments between sellers.
• Venmo (in markets where it’s available): social payments, especially popular with younger audiences.

PayPal’s fees depend on the market, the transaction type and your account terms. Weigh its current pricing against conversion and your customers’ preferences.

Adyen

Adyen is a Dutch payments platform used by major brands such as Spotify, Uber, eBay and Booking. It’s aimed at mid-sized and large companies that need an omnichannel solution (online, mobile and in-store) with an international footprint.

Its main advantages include:

• Global coverage: supports more than 250 local payment methods worldwide.
• True omnichannel: a single platform for online, in-app and point-of-sale payments.
• Smart payment optimization: algorithms that route transactions along the best path to maximize approval rates.
• Advanced reporting: detailed dashboards with performance metrics, approval rates and fraud analysis.

Adyen combines processing terms with payment method costs. Review its proposal for your transaction volume and the markets you plan to sell in.

BNPL: buy now, pay later

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is one of the fastest-growing payment trends in ecommerce. Services such as Klarna, Afterpay, Clearpay and SeQura let customers split their purchase into interest-free installments (or low-interest ones), while the merchant receives the full amount immediately.

BNPL is changing ecommerce in several ways:

• Higher average order value: studies suggest that merchants offering BNPL see average order value rise by 20% to 50%, as customers feel more comfortable buying higher-value items.
• Lower cart abandonment: a flexible payment option removes financial barriers that might otherwise stop the purchase.
• New customers: younger shoppers (millennials and Gen Z) show a strong preference for BNPL over traditional credit cards.
• No non-payment risk for the merchant: the BNPL provider takes on the credit risk, and the merchant gets paid immediately.

SeQura, Klarna, Clearpay and Aplazame are deferred payment options. Compare each provider’s fees and terms against your customer profile, order values and returns handling.

Digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay and more

Digital wallets let users store their payment details securely on their mobile device and pay with a single tap or biometric authentication (fingerprint or face recognition). The main wallets on the market are:

Apple Pay

Available to users of Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch). Apple Pay tokenizes card details, so the real card data is never shared with the merchant. Adoption in Spain is high given Apple’s significant market share in the premium segment.

Google Pay

Google’s alternative, available on Android devices and through the Chrome browser. It works much like Apple Pay, with card tokenization and biometric authentication. Its market share is broad given Android’s dominance in Spain.

Bizum

Although it started as a person-to-person payment system, Bizum (Spain’s mobile payment system) has expanded into ecommerce. With more than 25 million users in Spain, offering Bizum at checkout can be especially attractive if you sell to Spanish customers. The user pays straight from their banking app, without entering card details.

Adding digital wallets to your checkout is close to a must in 2024. Paying takes one or two taps, which removes the friction of typing card details by hand and significantly improves conversion, especially on mobile.

Payment security: PCI-DSS and 3D Secure

PCI-DSS: the security standard

PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a set of security requirements that any organization that processes, stores or transmits payment card data must meet. The standard defines 12 requirements grouped into six categories:

• Build and maintain a secure network (firewalls, secure configurations).
• Protect cardholder data (encryption, retention policies).
• Maintain a vulnerability management program (antivirus, updates).
• Implement access control measures (restricted access, authentication).
• Regularly monitor and test networks (logs, penetration testing).
• Maintain an information security policy.

For most online merchants, the most practical way to comply with PCI-DSS is to use a certified payment gateway that processes and stores card data for you. Gateways such as Stripe, Adyen and Redsys are certified PCI-DSS Level 1, the highest level of compliance. This means card data never passes through the merchant’s servers, which drastically reduces the scope of a PCI audit.

3D Secure and strong customer authentication (SCA)

The EU’s PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) requires strong customer authentication (SCA) for most electronic transactions in Europe. This is implemented through the 3D Secure 2 (3DS2) protocol, which requires at least two of three authentication factors:

• Something the customer knows: a PIN, password or code.
• Something the customer has: a mobile phone, physical card or token.
• Something the customer is: a fingerprint, face or voice recognition.

Unlike its predecessor, 3DS2 offers a much smoother experience. It shares contextual data with the issuing bank (device, IP address, purchase history), so many transactions can be approved without extra friction, and active authentication is reserved for higher-risk transactions.

There are SCA exemptions for low-risk transactions, recurring payments, low-value transactions (under €30, with cumulative limits) and merchant-initiated transactions (MIT). A good payment gateway applies these exemptions automatically to maximize approval rates while keeping friction for the user to a minimum.

Fees and charges: how to compare payment gateways properly

Comparing fees across payment gateways isn’t as simple as looking at the headline percentage. You need to consider the total cost of processing, which includes:

• Transaction fee: a percentage plus a fixed amount per transaction. This is the most visible cost.
• Monthly or annual fee: some gateways charge a fixed fee regardless of volume.
• Setup and integration: check whether there are costs for onboarding, development or add-on services.
• Chargeback fees: customer disputes carry extra costs that can add up.
• Currency conversion: review the exchange and settlement terms for the markets you sell in.
• Costs by payment method: premium, corporate or international cards usually carry higher fees than domestic debit cards.

The cheapest gateway isn’t always the best option. A gateway with slightly higher fees but a better approval rate, more effective fraud prevention and a better checkout experience can generate more net revenue than the cheapest alternative.

Checkout experience: conversion starts here

How you design the checkout process is decisive for conversion. Best practices for optimizing the payment experience include:

• One-page checkout: keep the number of steps to a minimum. Every extra step is another chance for the customer to leave.
• No forced registration: always offer guest checkout. You can invite customers to register after the purchase.
• Address autocomplete: integrate Google Places or a similar service so customers don’t have to type their full address.
• Multiple visible payment methods: clearly show every available option (card, PayPal, Bizum, BNPL, wallets) so customers can pick their favorite.
• Trust signals: show padlock icons, SSL certificates and well-known payment logos to build confidence.
• Transparent costs: show the full breakdown (product, shipping, taxes) before asking for payment details. Unexpected costs are the number one reason for abandonment.
• Error recovery: if a payment fails, show a clear message and let the customer retry without re-entering everything.

Recurring payments and subscriptions

The subscription model (SaaS, monthly boxes, streaming services, memberships) is one of the strongest trends in digital commerce. To handle recurring payments efficiently, you need a gateway that supports:

• Card tokenization: securely storing the customer’s payment details so you can charge them automatically without asking them to re-enter their card each time.
• Smart retries: if a charge fails (expired card, insufficient funds), the gateway should retry automatically at the moments most likely to succeed.
• Automatic card updates: when a card expires or is reissued, services such as Visa Account Updater and Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater update the stored details automatically.
• Plan and coupon management: the ability to create different subscription plans, free trials, discounts and coupons.
• Dunning management: automated handling of failed payments, including customer notifications, retries and service suspension if the payment isn’t recovered.

Stripe Billing and Adyen are the most complete solutions for recurring payments, with dunning management, proration, automated invoicing and self-service portals where customers manage their own subscriptions.

Payment trends for 2024 and beyond

Digital payments are constantly evolving. These are the trends shaping the present and the near future:

• Invisible payments: the trend is for payment to be as unobtrusive as possible. Models like Uber (you pay without doing anything at the end of the ride) or Amazon Go (you shop without going through a checkout) are redefining consumer expectations.
• Open banking: PSD2 has opened the door for third parties to access users’ banking information (with their consent) to offer innovative payment services, such as account-to-account payments that cut out intermediaries and reduce fees.
• Biometric payments: authentication by fingerprint, face and voice recognition is gradually replacing passwords and PINs.
• BNPL goes mainstream: buy now, pay later keeps growing, with increasingly clear regulation and deeper integration into ecommerce platforms.
• Voice payments: as voice assistants spread (Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri), voice-activated payments are starting to gain traction, although adoption is still in its early days.
• Real-time payments: instant transfer systems (such as TIPS in Europe) settle in seconds instead of days, improving merchants’ cash flow.
• Network tokenization: card networks (Visa, Mastercard) are driving tokenization at network level, improving security and approval rates for stored-card payments.

How to choose the right payment gateway for your ecommerce store

Your choice of payment gateway should be based on a careful analysis of your specific needs:

1. Target market: if you sell mainly in Spain, Redsys + Bizum is a solid combination. If you sell internationally, Stripe or Adyen are better options.
2. Transaction volume: for low volumes, gateways with no monthly fee (Stripe, PayPal) are ideal. For high volumes, negotiating fees with Redsys or Adyen can pay off.
3. Technical capacity: if your team has technical skills, Stripe offers the most flexibility. If you prefer a plug-and-play solution, PayPal Commerce Platform is the simplest option.
4. Business model: if you sell subscriptions, you need a gateway with native recurring payment management. If you run a marketplace, you need split payments.
5. Multichannel: if you sell online and in physical stores, Adyen offers the best unified omnichannel experience.

Our recommendation for most Spanish ecommerce businesses: Stripe as the main gateway (for its ease of integration and advanced features), complemented by PayPal (for the trust it inspires) and Bizum (for its reach in the Spanish market). For high-value orders, adding a BNPL option can significantly increase conversion.

Conclusion

Choosing and configuring payment gateways isn’t a side issue in ecommerce: it’s a decisive factor for revenue. Every percentage point you gain in checkout conversion has a direct, measurable impact on income.

Market trends point toward faster, smoother and more secure payments. Businesses that adapt, offering customers multiple payment options with an optimized checkout, will have a significant competitive advantage.

At INTERCONECTA we integrate payment gateways into custom ecommerce projects, making sure the checkout experience is fast, secure and optimized for conversion. If you need advice on the right payment solutions for your business, get in touch.