The Most Popular Payment Options on UK E-commerce Sites in 2026
E-commerce has continually evolved worldwide to offer multiple payment options to suit everyone’s financial situation. Consumers can pay out-of-pocket with debit cards, finance their transactions with a credit card, or split up their payments with buy now and pay later services. Evaluating the United Kingdom’s popular payment options will show the UK’s e-commerce business owners how their consumers prefer to pay for their transactions.
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Debit and Credit Cards
NORBr reported in 2023 that out of the top 500 UK e-commerce businesses, 98% of them accepted debit and credit cards. The debit card transactions accounted for 51% of online transactions. Collectively, UK Finance reported that there was £1 trillion of card transactions as a whole in 2024. This figure stated this amount was determined for domestic and international transactions. However, the information presented did not say whether these came from in-store or online merchants or both.
Digital Wallets
After credit and debit cards, digital wallets are the second most form of e-commerce transaction payment. Digital wallets keep all your payment options in one place for easy tap-to-pay functionality without having to carry so many debit and credit cards with you. About 34% of UK consumers in 2023 chose contactless payment about once a month to fund their transactions.
Breaking down the statistics will help to uncover which digital wallets are more popular over their competitors. Statista revealed that 39% of UK consumers utilize Apple Pay for online transactions. More people use this digital wallet for in-person transactions (63%).
Statista also reported that 32% of Apple Pay customers use this digital wallet for e-commerce transactions. An eMarketer survey from 2024 revealed that 53% of UK customers have used PayPal to fund online transactions.
Buy Now, Pay Later Services
Sometimes not all consumers have the money upfront on debit cards, credit cards, or digital wallets to fund their whole transactions from their liquid assets. Buy now, pay later services became more mainstream in the UK in 2020 when a surge in online transactions occurred. Individuals needed financing options to still buy what they wanted while splitting up installments to meet their budget needs.
About 42% of UK consumers, which equates to 22.6 million individuals, have used buy now, pay later services before. In particular, 31% of adults in the nation have utilized one of these services at least once in the past year.
Open Banking & Bank Transfers
Think about when you have a utility bill to pay on a monthly basis. Rather than paying with a debit or credit card, you pay with your bank account. Faster Payments is a UK-based bank-to-bank transfer intiative that allows consumers to pay merchants quicker and easier.
The “Pay by Bank” option is cheaper and more secure for merchants because it reduces card fees and fraud issues
Cryptocurrencies
Research shows that about 25% of UK establishments are now accepting cryptocurrencies. While it is still a niche payment option, it gives consumers diverse choices for how they want to fund their transactions. With the success of implementing cryptocurrency in other businesses, more UK establishments may start allowing cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in the future. However, as of now, more merchants want to stick to the tried and true payment methods.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general informational purposes only. Payment options and availability may vary by retailer and may change over time. Please verify the latest details directly with the respective e-commerce website or payment provider before making a purchase.