A leader in online payments in Germany and Austria, Sofort’s web and mobile solutions enable shoppers to pay for internet purchases directly from their bank accounts. The company processes over three million transactions a month through its network of over 35,000 online merchants. Patrick Brusnahan writes
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Sofort serves 20 million customers and 13 countries Europe-wide. Supported by 66 payment providers across Europe, such as PayPro, Payone, and Mollie. It was acquired by the Klarna Group in March 2014; however, both companies have kept, and operate under, their separate brands.
According to research from Timetric, Sofort has played its part in 150m transactions since stablishment. In 2015 alone, transactions were valued at $5bn, with net revenues of $37.1m.
Headquartered in Germany, with sales offices in Poland, Spain and Belgium, Sofort is a leader in direct payments in e-commerce.
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By GlobalDataWhat does Sofort actually provide?
Sofort offers a number of products and services. Its main solution is online bankingbased direct payments for online purchases. Users can sign in with a two-stage authentication procedure, but do not need to register with Sofort to make a payment.
If a customer selects Sofort to checkout, it leads to its website to process the transaction. Online merchants receive confirmation of payment in real time; payments are transferred to merchants’ accounts within two bank working days.
If a customer returns a purchase, the merchant transfers the corresponding amount back to the customer’s bank account when it receives the goods.
In addition, Sofort XXL deals with currency conversions for cross-border payments. It allows international customers to pay in their own currency, but it supports payments only in Europe.
Customers do not need to maintain an account with a foreign bank and the process allows conversion to euros, pounds, zloty and Swiss francs.
For a simple ‘click and pay’ option, Sofort Paycode also provides an online invoice and Paycode to the customer by email, post or SMS. The code contains all payment information, and customers can make payments by entering the Paycode either on the merchant’s website or at Sofort’s own website. Another option is a code link that leads to an encrypted Sofort banking payment form.
Security is covered by Sofort Ident, which also gives shoppers access to age-restricted content on merchant websites. Currently limited to users in Germany, it matches the name stored in the customer’s online bank account with that registered with the merchant’s online shops.
