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Elad Schreiber

Vice President, Mastercard Merchant Cloud

Rethinking global payments as local becomes the
new standard 

3 min read · 2026

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Expanding into new markets has never been easier — but scaling payments across them is more challenging than ever.

The reality merchants face today is a paradox: commerce is increasingly global, but payments are increasingly local. For merchants entering new markets, success depends on enabling the right payments in the right markets at the right moment in the customer journey. This is because the definition of “how people pay” has fundamentally changed. Digital wallets, account-to-account transfers, buy now pay later and cash-based digital payments are rapidly becoming the primary ways consumers transact.

What were once called ‘alternative payment methods’ are no longer alternative: they are essential.

Global expansion now requires local payment relevance

Globally, 77¹ percent of online purchases are now made using local payment methods, which are projected to represent 69² percent of 
e-commerce market share within the next few years. This is not a marginal trend: it’s a structural shift in how commerce happens.  

The implications are immediate at checkout. Payment friction 
remains one of the leading causes of cart abandonment, with 70³ percent of carts left behind and a meaningful share tied directly to missing or inconvenient payment options. When consumers do not see the payment method they trust, they do not convert.  

For merchants, the message is clear. Payment choice is not just an optimization strategy; it’s increasingly critical for conversion. 


Merchants expanding into new regions can encounter fragmented payment preferences. The most widely used methods in one market may be almost irrelevant in another. This fragmentation creates operational complexity.  


Historically, supporting local payment methods required multiple integrations, different providers and region-specific stacks: domestic gateways for local schemes, separate solutions for wallets or bank transfers and independent reconciliation processes. 


It’s to the point that the cost of expanding payments can begin to rival the opportunity of expanding markets. 

The need for a unified approach

Instead of treating payments systems as separate, merchants are looking to manage them through a single orchestration layer. The modern gateway is no longer just a card processor. It is becoming a unified platform that supports cards, wallets, account-to-account payments and other local methods through one integration.

This shift matters because it changes how merchants can scale. With the right infrastructure, expanding into a new market no longer requires rebuilding payments from the ground up. It becomes a configuration decision rather than an engineering effort.

How Merchant Cloud simplifies local payment expansion

Mastercard Merchant Cloud is designed to address this exact challenge. It provides a single integration that allows merchants to access and manage a broad and growing set of global and local payment methods.

Rather than building new connections market by market, merchants can activate many local payment options through one unified platform subject to market availability. This includes digital wallets, account-to-account payments, buy now pay later solutions and local networks, alongside international card networks.

The benefit is not just access, but simplification. Transactions across multiple payment types are normalized into a single reporting and reconciliation framework. Operational overheads can be reduced, and potentially improve visibility. Capabilities traditionally associated with cards, such as routing, retries and optimization, can increasingly be applied across non-card transactions as well.

This creates a consistent experience for merchants, regardless of how their customers choose to pay.

Turning complexity into opportunity

For merchants, the opportunity is significant — but only if complexity is addressed.

Expanding payment acceptance across markets should not require managing dozens of integrations or navigating fragmented systems. It should be as seamless as entering the market itself.

By enabling local payment methods through a single integration, Merchant Cloud helps remove the operational barriers that have traditionally slowed global expansion. Merchants can offer the payment methods consumers expect, optimize performance across payment types and maintain a unified view of their payment ecosystem.

In a world where local payment methods drive many transactions, the ability to activate them quickly and manage them simply is becoming a core competitive advantage.

Regional momentum: how local payments are taking shape

Across all regions, the common thread is clear. Payment preferences are diverse, dynamic and essential to conversion. Understanding this helps highlight why a flexible, unified approach is so critical. 

Mastercard Merchant Cloud supports over 55 payment methods including local and domestic networks, international card schemes and alternative payment methods such as digital wallets, account-to-account (A2A) and buy now, pay later (BNPL). 

Europe

Europe

  • Bank-based payments are scaling fast, with account-to-account becoming mainstream.
  • Cross-border frameworks like SEPA are standardizing payments across dozens of markets.
  • Real time processing and lower cost structures are accelerating adoption.
Asia pacific

Asia Pacific

  • Digital wallets dominate everyday commerce and mobile-first experiences.
  • Platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay are deeply embedded in consumer behavior.
  • Wallet acceptance is foundational — not optional — for market entry.
Latin America

Latin America

  • Diverse payment mix driven by varying levels of banking access.
  • Wallets, cash-based solutions and local platforms enable broad participation in e-commerce.
  • Voucher and store-based payments unlock conversion in underbanked segments.
Africa

Middle East and Africa

  • Local networks and account-based payments are rapidly expanding.
  • Growth is fueled by regulation, real time infrastructure and financial inclusion.
  • Payment preference is closely tied to local trust and domestic systems.
North America

North America

  • Expanding to account-to-account and digital wallets.
  • Growing momentum behind open banking and real time payment capabilities.
  • Speed, cost efficiency and immediacy are driving gradual change.

Elad Schreiber

Vice President, Mastercard Merchant Cloud

 

Elad Schreiber is Vice President, Product Management, Core Payments, at Mastercard. He leads connectivity for the Merchant Cloud Gateway, driving the expansion of integrations across global and domestic schemes, acquirers, processors, and alternative payment methods. Elad champions scalable, partner-enabled connectivity, that simplifies complexity while expanding payment choice for customers and markets worldwide.

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¹ Connecting you to a world of local payments, PPRO 2025

² Juniper Research Global eCommerce Payments Markets 2024-2029

³ 49 cart abandonment rate statistics baymard 2025