Entering a new market confronts merchants with dozens of local payment options and no clear framework for prioritizing them. Choosing by market share alone puts high-friction methods at the top of your checkout and buries the ones buyers actually prefer. We designed a payment selection framework, a quadrant built on two objective axes, to resolve this and produce a placement decision for every method in any market.
What this framework covers
How to evaluate any payment method using penetration rate and checkout friction as the two axes
Which of the four quadrant zones each method belongs in, and what placement that dictates
How to apply the framework to a real market using Mexico as a worked example
Why market share data alone leads to misplaced payment methods and lower digital conversion
The payment selection framework and supporting data in this guide are drawn from Antom's cross-border payment research. Explore the full report for regional payment mix data and market insights to inform your payment method selection.
The Payment Method Selection Framework Explained
The payment selection quadrant maps payment methods across two axes, market penetration rate and checkout friction, and produces four zones that determine each method's role in a cross-border checkout stack.
Penetration rate measures the share of buyers in a market who actively use a method. Checkout friction measures the digital steps required to complete a payment. Together they reveal not just who uses a method, but whether that usage translates to fast digital checkout.
The four zones are:
Prime (high penetration, low friction)
Priority Coverage (high penetration, high friction)
Niche Growth (low penetration, low friction)
Hidden (low penetration, high friction)
Merchants should draw from multiple zones, not optimize for one.
What Each Quadrant Zone Means for Checkout Placement
Payment methods in the Prime zone should always anchor the checkout stack. They represent what most local buyers expect to see first, with the fewest steps between intent and completed payment.
The four zones, with their placement rules:
Prime zone (high penetration, low friction): These methods anchor the default checkout view. They are what most local buyers in a given market expect to see first and can complete in seconds. Always place them at the top — they are the primary conversion driver. Examples: Pix in Brazil, FPX (Financial Process Exchange) in Malaysia.
Priority Coverage zone (high penetration, high friction): These methods carry high market reach but require offline steps or a manual process to complete. Essential for serving unbanked or cash-reliant segments, but not the default lead. Place them at the bottom of the visible list. Example: OXXO in Mexico.
Niche Growth zone (low penetration, low friction): Low market share, but fast digital completion. Surface these conditionally for high-average-order-value (AOV) products or younger buyer segments, not as defaults. Examples: BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) providers such as Klarna or Kueski Pay.
Hidden zone (low penetration, high friction): Minimal reach and high friction. Collapse by default; surface only for enterprise checkout flows or large-value B2B transactions.
IDC found that 60% of merchants who introduced new payment methods saw sales revenue grow, with an average 7% revenue gain per transaction. The quadrant ensures those new methods land in the right slot.
Case Study: Applying the Quadrant Across the Mexican Market
To help you see how all four zones apply in practice, we use Mexico as a worked example — a market where all four zones are active simultaneously. See Antom's Mexico Retail Market Report for detailed context.
Mercado Pago anchors the Prime zone, Kueski Pay serves high-value buyers in the Niche Growth zone, OXXO covers the unbanked in the Priority Coverage zone, and cross-border wire transfers represent the Hidden zone.
Prime zone: Mercado Pago holds approximately 56% of the digital wallet market in Mexico. It is digital, instant, and familiar across income levels. Default top placement.
Niche Growth zone: Kueski Pay, a BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) provider, surfaces conditionally for high-ticket items. It increases average order value without disrupting the primary checkout flow for standard purchases.
Priority Coverage zone: OXXO sits at the bottom of the visible stack. It is essential for reaching the unbanked segment but carries high offline friction. Placing it first suppresses conversion among the digital majority.
Hidden zone: International wire transfers fall here — high friction and negligible digital checkout volume in the Mexican consumer market. Collapse by default; surface only for high-value B2B transactions where no other method applies.
We found that 74% of Mexican consumers abandon purchases due to payment issues. Choosing Prime-zone methods as the default reduces friction and decline exposure simultaneously. For a full breakdown of which payment methods are available in Mexico and their zone classification, see the Mexico payment methods guide. For the checkout slot configuration methodology behind this, see the Ecommerce Checkout Optimization guide.