At this year’s Ecomexpo 2025 held in Vilnius, our Head of Payments Division, Valerijus Tomaševičius joined an insightful panel discussion titled “Scaling E-Commerce through Cross-Border Payments” alongside Jonathan Neumann a Sales Director from PayPal.
The discussion focused on what’s driving the future of cross-border commerce in Europe, a market that continues to expand rapidly and connect more businesses and consumers than ever before.
According to industry data, the European cross-border e-Commerce market reached 179 billion euros in 2024 and is expected to exceed 250 billion by 2027. Yet, while demand is growing, payments remain one of the biggest challenges for merchants.
As Valerijus shared, around 70 percent of shoppers abandon their carts if their preferred payment method isn’t available. Localization therefore becomes essential offering familiar local options such as BLIK in Poland, MB WAY in Portugal, or Swish in the Nordics can significantly improve customer trust and conversion.
He also highlighted that cross-border fees can reduce merchant margins by 3 to 5 percent, which makes the right payment setup a strategic decision rather than just a technical one. Equally important is managing fraud risk, which is typically 1.5 times higher in cross-border transactions. Combining strong authentication, AI-based fraud detection, and well-trained teams is key to building and maintaining trust.
The conversation also touched on the impact of regulation. From 2025, the EU’s Instant Payments mandate will require euro transfers to complete in under 10 seconds a significant step toward faster, cheaper, and more transparent payments across Europe.
Looking ahead, Valerijus noted the growing potential of innovations like stablecoins, AI-driven transaction routing, and digital wallets, which could make cross-border payments even more efficient and accessible for merchants of all sizes.
Today, customers are used to sending money anywhere in the world. Business no longer has limits; partners and employees are located across the globe. As a result, the demand for fast and secure international payments is growing every day. As a response to this need, WALLETTO is launching a new product – Account to Account by Visa Direct. This solution will allow our clients to, for example, instantly send funds to partners in the UAE or pay salaries to employees in Israel directly from one account to another, without unnecessary intermediaries.
We are proud that WALLETTO has become the first EMI company in Lithuania to implement this product, and we are confident it will be highly valued by our clients.
Successful cross-border growth starts with localization. When customers can pay in their local currency, use familiar payment methods, and enjoy a seamless experience, international commerce begins to feel local and that’s when real scaling happens.