iDEAL’s Evolution in the Netherlands
- Ever since it was launched (in 2005) on the webstore Fietspunt.nl, the Dutch solution iDEAL enabled it to process 250 million transactions. Consumers wishing to make online transactions can opt for this process set to redirect them to their e-banking portal to authenticate: a link is created between this portal and the e-store.
- This success can be accounted for by its appropriation by online shoppers who see it as safer and easier to use; for their part, merchants benefit from more payment guarantees.
- 70% of the Dutch population is now making online purchases and 10% of all transactions in this country rely on the Internet. iDEAL is the most successful means of payment (over 40,000 companies and institutions now accept it in the Netherlands).
- This system is also proposed in other sectors today, including in public transportation, and it may very likely be adapted to the mobile context.
- According to Currence (the company managing iDEAL), about 90% of Dutch e-merchants propose iDEAL and 56% of the customers favour this means of payment (for security reasons and because it generally is less expensive).
- This solution is so successful that the EPC has grown interested in it for its standardisation project to design a banking scheme better suited to e-commerce websites (see September 2011 Insight).
- The strong concentration of the Dutch banking sector has also made this mass adoption easier. Nevertheless, iDEAL is still just a model among all alternative payment solutions.