Invoice payments and installment payments are among the most important Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options in ecommerce. But one provider alone does not always cover every shopper preference. When merchants rely on a single invoice payment option, they risk losing customers who do not want to use that provider or are not eligible for it.That is why Bergzeit chose to expand its payment portfolio with white-label invoice payments and installment payments from Unzer. The goal was to improve checkout conversion, reduce friction in the payment step, and offer an additional pay-later option for customers with different preferences.

About

For more than 27 years, Bergzeit has been helping people experience the mountains. What started as a small tour portal has grown into a leading outdoor and mountain sports retailer, driven by a deep passion for the category.Today, Bergzeit operates an online shop with 650 brands and more than 50,000 mountain sports products, as well as physical stores: Bergzeit Outdoor in Gmund am Tegernsee and Bergzeit Alpin in Holzkirchen. Its offering is complemented by its own editorial magazine and the second-hand platform Bergzeit RE-USE.

Bergzeit’s mission is to advise, inspire, and motivate outdoor enthusiasts while finding thoughtful ways to help preserve the mountain environment. Its guiding purpose: more mountain time for everyone.

The challenge:

More payment choice, less friction at checkout

Bergzeit wanted to reduce checkout abandonment and improve checkout conversion by offering more flexibility and more choice in payment methods.

The company also aimed to increase customer satisfaction and improve payment acceptance rates by covering a broader range of customer preferences. More specifically, Bergzeit was looking for an additional alternative to Klarna, enabling the company to serve customers who did not want to use its existing invoice payment option.

Our central goal was to improve checkout conversion and reduce abandonment in the payment process by offering more flexibility and more choice in payment methods. At the same time, we wanted to increase customer satisfaction and improve payment acceptance by covering different preferences more effectively and offering an alternative to Klarna.

Edurne Ruiz Sachse, Teamlead Payment & Projects, Bergzeit

Why an additional invoice payment option matters

In ecommerce, invoice payments are not all the same. Different customers have different expectations when it comes to payment methods, brand experience, and checkout flow. Not every shopper wants to use the same provider, and not every provider reaches every potential customer.

By adding Unzer as an additional invoice payment option, Bergzeit can address more payment preferences in checkout and extend the theoretical availability of invoice payments to a broader customer base. The result: less payment friction, fewer abandoned purchases, and more conversion potential.

WHY

Bergzeit chose white-label invoice payments from Unzer

Bergzeit deliberately chose white-label invoice payments from Unzer because it already had a branded payment solution in checkout and wanted to expand its payment portfolio based on customer survey feedback.

The white-label setup ensures that the checkout experience remains fully within Bergzeit’s own look and feel. That keeps the brand experience consistent and avoids introducing an additional third-party brand into the payment process.

At the same time, Unzer gives Bergzeit a real alternative for customers who do not want to use the existing invoice payment method. This helps the retailer cover more shopper preferences, reduce purchase friction, and unlock additional conversion opportunities.

The solution:

Unzer invoice and installment payments as complementary

Bergzeit expanded its payment setup with two important BNPL payment methods from Unzer:

• White-label invoice payments
• Installment payments

Key benefits

This solution was intentionally introduced as a complementary payment option, not as a replacement for existing methods. The goal was to broaden the payment mix and give more customers access to a suitable pay-later option.

• white-label invoice payments within the Bergzeit brand environment
• installment payments as an additional BNPL option
• a complementary invoice payment method alongside existing providers
• broader coverage of different customer payment preferences
• a consistent checkout experience without additional third-party branding
• efficient collaboration on payment, fraud, and chargeback cases

Implementation

close collaboration to stabilize and optimize processes

Overall, implementation was largely smooth. As is common in complex payment projects, not everything worked perfectly from day one. However, open issues were identified quickly and resolved pragmatically through regular and constructive collaboration between the teams involved.

Together with Bergzeit, we are pursuing a clear goal: continuously improving the customer journey, reducing checkout friction, and sustainably increasing conversion. Through close operational collaboration and regular analysis of acceptance rates, payment preferences, and checkout performance, we can advise Bergzeit in the best possible way and identify optimization potential. This trusted partnership enables us to deliver measurable results together and create sustainable growth for Bergzeit and its customers.

Melanie Dietz, Account Manager, Unzer

Preview

One particularly positive outcome was operational process optimization. Bergzeit and Unzer established a digital collaboration space for customer service, making it much easier and faster to resolve specific payment cases. A dedicated payments-focused collaboration space is also planned as a next step to deepen and further optimize the partnership.

Results

A complementary BNPL setup with further potential

Since go-live, Bergzeit has seen a set of differentiated results compared with its existing branded invoice payment solution.

At the same time, Bergzeit reports that payment costs are currently higher than Klarna’s in direct comparison, and Klarna continues to outperform on acceptance rates. The impact of installment payments on overall conversion is also still limited so far, because acceptance has improved only slightly and remains at a relatively low level.

Unzer replaced Klarna seamlessly—without a conversion dip. Our 0% installments tripled usage on day one. An on‑brand checkout, strong approval rates, and a smooth Shopify integration—exactly what a premium brand needs.

Diego Bassai, Co‑Founder, Luxusbetten24

Key takeaways

• Unzer is used as a complementary payment option, not a replacement.
• Customers with alternative payment preferences can be addressed more effectively
• The acceptance rate for installment payments improved slightly.
• Average order value is comparable to the retailer’s existing branded solution.

Stable risk performance and smoother day-to-day operations

Compared with Bergzeit’s previous invoice payment method and other payment methods, fraud and chargeback rates are neither significantly higher nor lower. From a risk perspective, performance has remained stable.A clear advantage, however, appears in operational case handling. Through direct and uncomplicated communication with Unzer, questions, fraud cases, and chargeback cases can be clarified and processed quickly and efficiently. Short communication paths improve transparency, reduce internal coordination effort, and ease the workload on customer service teams.Overall, this contributes to smoother daily operations and supports a solid, controllable risk management setup.