Most checkout flows are still built around a 16-digit card number as the first move. Portugal skipped that step: MB WAY lets shoppers pay with the phone number they already have memorised, confirmed inside an app most people already have, no card details typed at any point. This is the primary way most Portuguese check out.
This is the second episode of The Local Lens, GA’s series on what actually shapes performance in each market, sourced from our own in-country teams rather than desk research. This time the insights come from our Portuguese team, on what happens at the exact moment a Portuguese shopper decides whether to trust a checkout.
The Portuguese Pattern
Portuguese shoppers pay with their phone number. MB WAY, a mobile payment method linked to Multibanco (Portugal’s national ATM and payment reference network), lets customers initiate a purchase with a phone number and confirm it inside the MB WAY app, with no card details typed at any point.
The scale is the part most international teams underestimate: MB WAY is used by over six million people and accounts for close to 45% of the country’s online transactions (Paynopain). By contrast, cards are used by only around 26% of online shoppers (GetNet).
The takeaway: Because it is faster and minimises friction, MB Way replaces the default card-first checkout as the primary payment path in Portugal.
Why it happens
Multibanco is the trusted backbone behind MB WAY – with 23 million cards in circulation in a country of under 11 million people, it’s a sign of how deeply the network is woven into everyday financial life, closer to a shared national utility than a financial product.
A checkout that doesn’t reflect the importance of Multibanco runs the risk of losing their audience at a vital stage in the conversion funnel.
What this changes for brands operating there
- Don’t treat MB WAY as an optional add-on. For a large share of Portuguese shoppers, it’s the primary method they trust to complete checkout, not a secondary convenience layered on top of cards.
- Rebuild the mental model, not just the payment menu. Most international checkout logic is built card-first, PayPal-second. In Portugal, that hierarchy is inverted and the build should start from MB WAY and Multibanco.
- Read the absence of MB WAY as a trust gap. A Portuguese shopper who lands on a card-only checkout doesn’t necessarily assume the brand is untrustworthy, but they assume the site wasn’t built for them.
The overlooked data point
Amazon.es (which also serves Portuguese shoppers) offers neither MB WAY nor Multibanco at checkout. For a market where those two methods carry most of the trust, that’s a significant gap from one of the most advanced e-commerce operators in the world; a useful reminder that scale doesn’t automatically translate into local fluency and that even the most sophisticated global playbook needs a local edit.
The point that matters
In Portugal, MB WAY leads the checkout because it earns the position: faster, less error-prone, and backed by the country’s financial authority, a seal of trust. Get the hierarchy right, and the page stops testing a shopper’s trust and starts inviting it.
For a truly local approach to international marketing, feel free to get in touch with our team today.
Sources
- PaynoPain, “Payment Methods in Portugal: 2025 Trends and Consumer Habits,” citing SIBS
- Getnet, “How People Prefer to Pay in Portugal”
- Cross-Border Magazine, “E-commerce Payment Landscape: Portugal 2025”
Article author
Filipa Silva and Diana Rodrigues
Account Manager & Specialist
