Europe's push for payment independence from US providers such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal gained a new retail partner this week: Decathlon has activated Wero, the pan-European account-to-account payment solution, on its German online store as of July 20, 2026 – the first market within the international Decathlon group to do so.
Wero was developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a consortium originally backed by 18 European banks and payment providers that has since grown to more than 50 participating institutions. The system already supports peer-to-peer payments in Germany, France and Belgium, reaching around 56 million users since 2024 - and Decathlon's move signals its next phase: getting large retailers to accept it natively at checkout.
How Wero payments work
Customers pay directly from account to account in real time, confirming the transaction through their own bank's app – via fingerprint or facial recognition, for example. No separate app or stored card details are required.
A partnership built on European autonomy
Patrick Müller, Chief Digital & Chief Marketing Officer at Decathlon Germany, frames the move as a matter of principle as much as convenience. According to Müller, offering customers a wide range of modern, secure payment methods is core to Decathlon's approach as a technology-driven company, and Wero – as a European initiative – fits that philosophy directly. He also points to the practical upside for shoppers: Wero lets customers authorize payments conveniently through their familiar banking app without storing sensitive card data with the retailer, and its link to Decathlon's membership program, launched earlier this year, adds further value to every purchase.
Martina Weimert, Chief Executive Officer of EPI, points to Decathlon's role in accelerating adoption. She describes Decathlon as an innovation-driven partner that has supported digital transformation in retail from early on, and frames the Wero integration on decathlon.de as part of a shared effort to give European consumers more payment choice through a simple, fast and secure experience – while building trust and adoption across German retail as Wero continues expanding across Europe.
What's next
The rollout currently covers Decathlon's online store only, but integration at checkout counters across its more than 110 German stores is already underway, with no confirmed launch date yet. A joint six-week activation campaign with EPI, starting October 2026, will offer customers a €10 voucher for purchases made with Wero on decathlon.de.
The retail push comes as Wero gains ground beyond e-commerce, too: the city of Kassel has separately begun piloting Wero-enabled parking meters, one sign of the system's ambitions to move from peer-to-peer transfers into everyday commercial use across Europe.
