Your checkout might be killing your international growth

High-value products. Premium customers. Global reach.
But are you letting them pay their way?

 

Cart abandonment is a global epidemic. Payments are often to blame.

The global cart abandonment rate is 70.19%

Behind every abandoned cart is a decision: “This doesn’t feel right.”

And more often than you'd think, that decision is about payments.

• 77% of consumers abandon their cart if their preferred payment method isn’t available.

• 13% leave because there simply aren’t enough options

• 54% walk away when limited to just debit and credit cards 

This isn’t a UX issue.
It’s a missed revenue opportunity.
And for international brands, the cost is even higher.

 

Payment isn’t the end of the journey. It’s the moment of truth.

When customers reach the checkout, they’re asking:
“Do I trust this? Do I feel safe? Is this how I normally pay?”

And psychology takes over:

• We choose what’s first (primacy effect)

• We avoid extra fees (loss aversion)

• We abandon complexity (cognitive overload)

• We go with what feels familiar (default bias)

 

Localization isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a conversion lever.

One-size-fits-all payment flows simply don’t work across borders.

• German shoppers expect Klarna (sofort)

• Dutch customers use iDEAL

• Swedes demand Swish

• Americans increasingly default to Apple Pay

Without localization, trust drops. Conversion drops. You lose the sale.

 

The future of payments is invisible

This is where the best brands are heading:

• Wallet-first experiences with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal

• One-click express checkouts that bypass forms entirely

• AI-optimized flows that adapt in real time

• Invisible checkouts where payment happens in the background

Still sending everyone through the same generic flow?

You’re already behind.

 

The best in the game treat payments as a growth channel

While many merchants just “accept payments,” leaders:

• Match methods to markets dynamically

• Experiment with method order and routing

• A/B-test for margin and conversion

• Add/remove methods without dev time

It’s not just about getting paid.
It’s about steering the customer experience at the most critical moment.

 

What’s the cost of doing nothing?

If you’re selling high-value products across borders, but using a static payment setup…

You’re likely leaving 10–20% of revenue on the table, every single month.

We know this because we see it.
We audit checkouts weekly.
And most of them are built for internal convenience, not customer behavior.