The digital euro would probably offer lower fees and a uniform payment procedure for merchants in all euro area countries. This would enhance the competitiveness of European retailers and European sovereignty.
Merchants currently pay high fees for international card systems such as Visa or Mastercard, eroding their profit margins. The digital euro could make transaction costs significantly cheaper, which would greatly ease the burden on smaller retailers in particular.
Another advantage is the pan-European infrastructure, which would eradicate national obstacles and create a uniform system for all euro area countries. The digital euro would put merchants in a stronger position to negotiate conditions with non-European payment solution providers, thereby reducing their own costs.
In addition, the digital euro could be a driver of innovation, as it would also be accompanied by the introduction of uniform technical acceptance standards and improved integration options into retail POS systems.
Looking further into the future, a promising use case for the digital euro could be the introduction of conditional payments. These are payments that are instructed automatically when certain pre-defined conditions are met. For example, in online shopping, a condition could be that the credit transfer is carried out only once the buyer has confirmed receipt of goods; this would enhance consumer protection.
In short, the digital euro could enable retailers to save costs, become more independent of US companies and, at the same time, drive innovation.
