Larger crowds, longer queues, less parking – every year, the Christmas shopping rush in physical stores around the country is be becoming more and more hectic.

With complicated checkouts, insecure websites, faulty products and wrong sizes, the online world isn’t any less chaotic. However, it now seems our cousins in Europe are finding clever solutions that make the online payment process simpler and safer. And the key? Offering the right payment solution.

If you were to ask European online shoppers what their preferred payment method is, they would, to a large extent, say that invoice after delivery is how they would like to pay for ordered good. In Germany, Europe’s largest e-commerce market, which generated 21 billion Euros in 2011, as many as six out of ten consumers would choose this payment method above all others.

Until recently, merchants hesitated to offer invoice because of the potential credit and fraud losses it entails. However, now companies such as Klarna cover these risks. This even enables smaller merchants that do not have the resources for internal invoicing, to offer their customers their preferred payment method.

As a US merchant, this means you can take a larger chunk of the booming European market (20% growth from 2011 to 2012) and expand your customer base simply by offering the preferred solution. And what better time of year than Christmas.

So how do the European online shopping trends differ during Christmas?
Figures from Klarna, the leading online invoice based payment solution provider in Europe, show a sales increase in 43% during Dec 2012 compared to Dec 2011.

Klarna also showed double the amount of purchases made in December compared to the rest of the year, with Dec 13 being the peak day and Mondays the peak weekday. To put it into perspective, Klarna is grew by 38% last year and is aiming to reach 50 million transactions by the time trade returns to normal in January. Transactions that you could be claiming a share of.

Klarna’s payment solutions come pre-installed with 3dcart. Learn more.

3dcart stores save 450€ on the start up fee with Klarna. Sign up here.

About the Author: Magnus Fredin is the Executive Vice President Sales at Klarna.

IMG CREDIT: Berlin shopper at Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt via CBSsnews.com