Observed Signal · Aug 19, 2026 · Partnership · Source: Manager Magazin · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
dm partners with European PayPal rival Wero
German drugstore chain dm will add the European payment method Wero to its online checkout, manager magazin reports. dm is testing the integration now and plans a full rollout for all users from August 25, 2026. Wero is a payment project from the European Payment Initiative (EPI) that aims to compete with PayPal, Visa and Mastercard in Europe. The partnership gives Wero greater merchant reach as it works to overcome low acceptance among online shops; EPI currently reports about 7 million registered accounts versus PayPal's ~39 million users in Germany. dm cites easier bank-account linkage and potentially lower fees as motivations for the move.
A major national retailer (dm) adopting a European alternative payment method increases merchant reach for Wero/EPI, affecting payment competition and merchant fee dynamics in e-commerce.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- dm will introduce the European payment method Wero in its online shop and is testing the integration ahead of a planned rollout on 2026-08-25.
- Wero is a project of the European Payment Initiative (EPI), an alliance of European banks building an alternative to PayPal, Visa and Mastercard.
- EPI/Wero currently has more than 7 million registered accounts; PayPal has about 39 million users in Germany (per the article).
- dm's finance chief Martin Dallmeier said Wero could become a relevant payment method and suggested a target market share of about 5% within six to twelve months.
- The article notes Wero likely offers lower fees for merchants compared with PayPal, which the EHI Retail Institute estimates charges about 1.94% on average.
Connected Companies & Entities
8 Entities mapped“PayPal in Germany has about 39 million users, a figure cited to contrast with EPI's current registered-account numbers....”
“The article notes EPI recently announced an alliance with the discounter Lidl, and the dm deal is described as its second partnership of not...”
“This report was published by manager magazin, which the article says learned the dm–Wero deal exclusively....”
“dm operates, alongside Amazon, Rewe and Picnic, one of the largest online shops for everyday goods in Germany....”
“dm operates, alongside Amazon, Rewe and Picnic, one of the largest online shops for everyday goods in Germany....”
“dm operates, alongside Amazon, Rewe and Picnic, one of the largest online shops for everyday goods in Germany....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Wero Reaches Ten Million Users in Germany
The European payment initiative Wero has reached 10 million registered users in Germany and 60 million in Europe, marking a significant milestone. The initiative, backed by European banks, initially launched as a peer-to-peer payment solution in 2024. It is now expanding into e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) payments, with retailers like Lidl and dm integrating Wero into their online checkouts. The next challenge is converting user registrations into regular transactions and expanding merchant acceptance, particularly in physical stores. EPI has begun initial in-store Wero payments in Belgium, but a broader German POS rollout is still pending. The initiative aims to create a pan-European payment alternative based on SEPA instant payments, reducing reliance on non-European card schemes. Payment service providers like Nexi and BNP Paribas are key to accelerating merchant adoption.
Amazon Adds Wero to Checkout, Phased Rollout
Amazon Germany has begun a stepwise integration of the European payment brand Wero into its checkout, first visible as a rename of the existing iDEAL payment option to "iDEAL | Wero." The change currently affects only the labeling while the customer payment flow (redirect to the bank's app for authorization) remains unchanged. Wero is a payment brand developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI) to unify national payment schemes across Europe using SEPA real-time transfers and European security/privacy standards. Amazon has not issued an official announcement; help pages already use the new name and the migration is expected to complete by the end of 2027. Retailers such as Lidl and Decathlon have also recently integrated Wero.
Wero still unknown to most Germans after two years
Wero, the European payments initiative backed by banks, is struggling to gain traction against US competitors like PayPal. Launched in July 2024 by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), it remains little-known: a July 2026 Verivox/Innofact survey of 1,002 German adults found 39% correctly identified it as a payment service, 31% had never heard of it, and 23% knew only the name. Active usage is ~7%, up from 4% a year earlier, with 14% having linked a bank account. EPI reports 57 million registered users across Belgium, France, and Germany (9 million in Germany), versus PayPal's 35 million active accounts in Germany alone. Expansion has added e-commerce checkout in November 2025 and plans in-store rollout in 2026, with new bank partners like N26 and Targobank. However, merchant acceptance remains limited to a few large retailers (e.g., Lidl, Decathlon, Eventim, Rossmann), and reliance on AWS poses a geopolitical risk. Despite reduced losses, ongoing funding needs and skepticism about competing with U.S. rivals persist; 58% of survey respondents doubt Wero's ability to compete with PayPal, Visa, or Mastercard. Expansion into the Netherlands and Luxembourg is underway, with Austria planned for 2027.
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