German Debit Card Transactions Rise With Digital Wallet Growth
In 2022, Germany’s girocard was used in 6.7 billion transactions, which was 13% more than the year before.
During the same time period, sales went up by 12.2% to more than €284 billion. According to a recent report from the interbank debit card service, which makes one of the most common cards in the country with more than 100 million in circulation.
The positive trend points to a boom in cashless payments, which the German Banking Industry Committee wants to take advantage of by working with retail and service companies to come up with new ideas for the retail sector.
“The girocard will be used more flexibly in a variety of acceptance points — not only in store-based retail, but also by mobility providers, in the food service industry, and in many other areas. This also includes simple payment within smartphone apps, possibly linked with bonus programs, or the integration of the girocard in virtual wallets,” the report stated.
The report stated further that the new enhancements will be “strongly focused on contactless payment with card and, in particular, the digital girocard in smartphone or smartwatch.”
Digital Wallet Use Surges
A recent report shows that in addition to cards, many German consumers use digital wallets to pay for things.
According to the report, which was made in partnership with Stripe, Germany is the country that uses digital wallets the most. In fact, 44% of all online transactions in Germany use digital wallets.
In fact, 83% of all wallet transactions in Germany use PayPal. Of the five EU countries studied in the report, only Italy (42.1%) comes close to Germany in its preference for digital wallets. In France, digital wallets are only used for 19% of transactions.
Germans like to use digital wallets for more than just online purchases. The report also said that 20% of all in-store purchases in the country are made with mobile devices, which is the most of any country in the EU-5.
In another study about how people feel about super apps, 20% of German consumers said they were “very” or “extremely” interested in a super app.
According to the report, Germans trust German banks more than PayPal (16%), eCommerce companies (11%), Big Tech players (12%), or card networks (14%).
