PayPal in retail: 7.6 million registered users in Germany

PayPal expanded its offering in Germany in May of the previous year and introduced contactless payment at the checkout. With this, the company positioned itself against services like Apple or Google Pay. The offering, which PayPal has so far only available in Germany, seems to be well-received.

"Enormous momentum"

According to Alexander Bellabarba, SVP Global Product Solutions at PayPal, about three-quarters of a year after the launch, 7.6 million users of the PayPal app in Germany have registered for payment via smartphone app at the checkout. He mentioned this figure during the Digital Finance Conference in Frankfurt and in a LinkedIn post. As the Handelsblatt further reports, Bellabarba stated that PayPal is observing "enormous momentum" in this area. However, the manager did not disclose specific transaction figures. Yet, precisely this number would be significantly more interesting, as registrations do not necessarily mean usage.

PayPal's payment option for brick-and-mortar stores was launched in May 2025. For this service, only the PayPal app is required, which many users already use for online payments. Payments in retail stores are made via a virtual debit Mastercard from PayPal, which consumers can set up in the app. Users can pay wherever contactless Mastercard payments are accepted.

According to PayPal's own information, it has 35 million active customer accounts in Germany. The mentioned 7.6 million correspond to a share of about 22 percent.

European Laggard

PayPal's functional expansion and the related growth come at a rather unfavorable time for the European alternative Wero. The response to the US services was launched in the summer of 2024 but has only been actively usable since around mid-2025. Recently, Wero brought Commerzbank, the second-largest private bank in Germany, on board as a partner, thus gaining eleven million potential customers overnight. However, it will still take time until Commerzbank customers can actually use Wero – how long is currently unclear. N26 has also announced its joining Wero from the second half of 2026.

Other Wero providers include the German Sparkassen and Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, as well as Deutsche Bank, Postbank, ING Deutschland, and Revolut. In total, there is talk of around 47 million users and bank customers who can use Wero.

What PayPal's figures say exactly about the competition with Wero is difficult to assess because the actually important figure is missing. In addition, PayPal is only strong in Germany within the Wero zone. In France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, PayPal plays only a minor role in payment transactions. The competition with Wero will only become interesting when Wero is available at a significant number of online retailers and reaches the checkout counters. The latter is planned to happen in the second half of 2026. The "enormous momentum" observed by Bellabarba could potentially benefit Wero.

(afl)