Wero goes in-store in Belgium as payments pack NRF’s Paris show

The European Payments Initiative (EPI) has extended Wero, its account-to-account wallet, to in-store payments in Belgium. EPI made the announcement on September 16, 2026, at the National Retail Federation’s European show in Paris. Through Belgian payment provider Payworld, shoppers pay straight from their bank account by scanning a Wero QR code displayed on the terminal. EPI ran the demonstration at its booth for all three days of the show.

It was the main announcement to come out of the show, the second European edition of the NRF’s trade event, held September 15–17 at Porte de Versailles. The show, which replaced Paris Retail Week, brought together retailers and their suppliers. Payments carried more weight there than the exhibitor list alone would suggest.

Wero reaches 48,000 merchants, with French and German stores to follow in 2027

More than 48,000 merchants in five countries have already processed Wero transactions, online and in physical stores, EPI said. In Luxembourg, where Wero launched earlier in September, the count is expected to pass 2,000 by the end of the month. Point-of-sale payments in France and Germany will open progressively from 2027.

“What was on our roadmap is progressively becoming reality,” EPI CEO Martina Weimert said. “Consumers are already paying with Wero online, and Belgium provides a concrete example of Wero moving further into the physical store.” EPI members also showed proofs of concept for contactless account-to-account payments on existing terminals and electronic cash registers. EPI stressed that these ran in test environments and “do not represent commercial launches.”

A smaller show, and no attendance figure

The National Retail Federation’s wrap-up gives no visitor count. According to mind Retail, the show’s app listed 287 exhibiting companies, down from 500 at the 2025 edition, which drew 12,500 attendees. The trade title reports that both exhibitors and attendance fell.

Twenty-three companies were listed in the payments category of the official exhibitor list, including Adyen, Alma, Axepta BNP Paribas, CAWL, Nepting, Payplug, Shift4, Square, Stripe, Verifone, Worldline, Worldpay, and Wero. Terminals and in-store payment acceptance were well represented, with Ingenico, Lyra, Market Pay, Monext, PAX, Castles, Glory, and Loomis.

The card networks were the most notable absentees. Neither Visa nor Mastercard appeared in the official list, and neither did Klarna, Nexi, Checkout.com, or Mollie. A retail show is not a payments show, and the floor plan made that plain.

Payment sessions filled up while AI workshops struggled

Seven sessions in the official program dealt explicitly with payments; five are listed below. Les Clés du Digital, a French trade site, observed that payment sessions were packed while some AI workshops had trouble drawing an audience.

Agentic commerce was the running theme, and it reached beyond the show floor. On September 14, Worldline launched a payment handler for the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open agentic commerce standard co-developed by Google, on its Global Collect cross-border platform. A study by Fevad, the French e-commerce federation, and KPMG, previewed at the show, draws on an Odoxa survey for Fevad of how shoppers actually use AI.

Upcoming payments events

No date has been set yet for the next European edition. It remains the only event in France where retailers’ payment teams, their providers, and terminal makers all meet over three days. That explains why the payment sessions fill up while the rest of the program is still finding its footing.