Credit cards are the preferred payment method for online purchases in Brazil as well as the biggest vehicle of fraud attempts. For that reason, alternative and secure payment methods, such as Boleto Bancário and online banking transfer, which together represent more than 35% of the transactions according to PagBrasil, are essential for the financial health of any e-commerce business.
Boleto Bancário is by far the most popular among the alternative payment methods in Brazil. In the market since the early 90’s, boleto also became popular in e-commerce and is the second most used payment method by Brazilian online consumers. Its popularity has even led PagBrasil to develop a responsive version of Boleto Bancário, simplifying its payment on mobile devices. Online banking transfer, on the other hand, is a much more recent method which, in many cases, is mistaken for a regular bank transfer.
In order to facilitate e-commerce transactions, some of the main Brazilian banks have created their own payment method that allows the merchant to receive the payment via bank transfer. In addition to being a secure payment method, with practically no risk of chargeback, online banking transfer also provides instant payment confirmation. The process can vary from bank to bank, however, in general, when choosing this payment method, the buyer is redirected to the bank’s page where he will have to insert his Internet Banking credentials to confirm the payment. When the payment is completed, the buyer is taken back to the merchant website and the shop receives the payment confirmation.
Despite its increasing importance, many e-commerce businesses and payment service providers still do not support online banking transfers. According to PagBrasil, that supports online banking transfers for Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú and Banrisul, this payment method already accounts for 15% of all transactions. Furthermore, on Black Friday 2016, PagBrasil registered an impressive growth of 213% in the number of successful transactions, 610% in the number of payments via online banking transfer.
