Since July 2019, Syde has partnered with a European payment gateway provider to evolve their WooCommerce integration, helping transform them from a regional provider into one of Europe’s leading fintech success stories and setting a new standard for payment gateways in the WordPress ecosystem.
The challenge: Overcoming technical barriers to stand out in Europe’s payment landscape.
When our client approached us in July 2019, the European payment gateway market was dominated by well-funded global players like Stripe and PayPal. Although our client had been a trusted payment provider in their region since 2004, they faced major technical hurdles in scaling their WooCommerce presence across Europe’s fragmented payment landscape.
The existing plugin architecture simply wasn’t built for expansion. Merchants faced weeks-long onboarding, inconsistent regional payment support, and limited integration with the complex mix of local methods such as iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium, SEPA across the EU, and emerging mobile payment solutions. Recurring payments were poorly supported, and customer service was spread across multiple fragmented channels with unreliable response times.
With ambitious growth targets and millions in Series C funding secured, our client needed more than just upgrades. They required a full-scale technical transformation to support billions in annual transactions while delivering the reliability and user experience needed to stand out from global competitors.
The stakes were high: our client was in a race to secure European market leadership before dominant players could lock up the fragmented landscape.
The solution: A sophisticated and scalable technical foundation
Syde didn’t just rebuild our client’s WooCommerce plugin; we became their dedicated technical experts within the WordPress ecosystem. By combining modern development practices with a deep understanding of payment complexities, we created a scalable foundation to support Europe’s most ambitious fintech.
Modern Plugin Architecture & Continuous Development
We implemented a sophisticated plugin architecture leveraging modern PHP practices, dependency injection, and full compliance with WordPress and WooCommerce standards. The system dynamically loads payment methods based on merchant location and configuration, supports over 25 European payment methods, and addresses complex regulatory requirements such as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and GDPR compliance.
Our development team established a continuous integration pipeline with feature flags, enabling controlled rollouts of new payment methods and features. This approach empowered our client to rapidly expand into new markets, including Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Poland, and Portugal, without compromising stability or user experience. Since 2019, we’ve delivered 35+ major releases, each rigorously tested and deployed with minimal disruption.
Enterprise-Grade QA & Testing Framework
We built a robust testing infrastructure featuring over 500 automated test cases that cover critical user journeys, cross-browser compatibility across more than 15 browser and device combinations, and dedicated testing for each payment method. Our QA team performs thorough regression testing with every WordPress and WooCommerce update to ensure merchants never face disruptions.
Our testing framework includes load testing for high-volume scenarios, real-time performance monitoring with alerts, and beta tester involvement. This rigorous process has maintained 99.95% uptime across all releases and significantly reduced critical bug reports compared to the previous plugin architecture.
Multi-Channel Support Infrastructure
We established a comprehensive support system spanning both the client and Syde teams, ensuring seamless assistance across all user touchpoints. Support is delivered through multiple channels, including the WordPress.org forums, GitHub issues, direct merchant support, and detailed documentation available in nine languages.
Our shared support teams maintain an average response time of under two hours for critical issues and resolve 95% of all cases within 24 hours. This commitment to support excellence has earned our client a 4.6 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot, reflecting strong customer satisfaction across all channel
The outcome: A new market leader in Europe with unmatched scale, speed, and innovation
Technical Performance & Reliability
Our plugin architecture delivers industry-leading performance, resulting in improved checkout completion rates. It now supports over 100k active WooCommerce installations across Europe, handling millions of daily transactions with unwavering stability. This transformation delivered measurable impact across every dimension of our client’s business: active installs of the WooCommerce extension increased by around 20%, helping make our client a top payment gateway provider in Europe with over 250k merchants onboard. More importantly, the robust technical foundation enabled them to scale from processing €10 billion to over €30 billion in annual transactions, without compromising on reliability.
Business Growth & Market Leadership
Technical excellence directly contributed to their business success. Merchant acquisition accelerated 60% faster than industry averages, supported by streamlined onboarding processes that reduced setup time from weeks to minutes. They successfully expanded into more than eight European markets and achieved profitability in 2024, marking a 28% increase over the previous year.
This partnership also enabled our customer to compete effectively with global players, attracting new enterprise clients. Market analysts now position our client alongside Stripe and PayPal in competitive landscape reports, a testament to the technical foundation we built together.
Innovation & Recognition
Our continuous innovation kept our client at the forefront of payment technology. The plugin was among the first payment methods to integrate with the new state-of-the-art WooCommerce Cart and Checkout blocks. We successfully added advanced features such as subscription payments, Apple Pay, and Klarna, while maintaining backward compatibility and stability. This work earned us recognition with an Innovator Award, celebrating our creative solutions for delivering powerful online experiences.
But the value goes beyond immediate results. Our modular, future-proof approach ensures the plugin can easily adapt to new payment technologies and evolving regulatory requirements. Continuous analytics and user feedback enable us to refine the experience over time, keeping the payment solution ahead of the curve as European markets evolve.
Our approach goes beyond just implementing a payment gateway, we’re invested in understanding each client’s unique business model and growth objectives to help them achieve it.
Sonja Ibele Delivery and Account Manager, Syde
Key results:
Transforming payment experiences across Europe
Strategic Partnership Success
Market-leading adoption
100k+ active installations
Enterprise-grade reliability
99.95% uptime maintained across 35+ major releases, with zero critical security vulnerabilities since the partnership began.
Exceptional user experience
4.6/5 average support satisfaction rating on Trustpilot, with 95% of issues resolved within 24 hours across global, multi-timezone coverage.
Business Impact Delivered
Revenue growth enabled
Supported €20B in growth in annual transaction processing while maintaining exceptional reliability.
Market expansion success
Enabled expansion into 8+ European markets, including Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Poland, and Portugal.
Enterprise client acquisition
Built a technical foundation that attracted major clients across Europe.
Technical Innovation Leadership
Security standards
Maintained zero major security vulnerabilities with full PCI DSS compliance and GDPR adherence.
Continuous innovation
Successfully integrated 25+ European payment methods, including Apple Pay, Klarna, and subscription payments.
Ready to transform your payment gateway experience?
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