The Evolution of PayPal

PayPal

PayPal is a worldwide known online payment method that has gained popularity throughout the years.

Their successful timeline shows an incline in constant growth and innovation, becoming one of the most desired and searched for payment method. Their initial idea was to invent a way for customers to be able to transfer money through electronic devices by using a specific encryption software.

History of PayPal

PayPal was established back in 1998 by Max Levchin and Peter Theil, and was officially launched in 1999 as a platform which one can use to transfer money. In 2002, Paypal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion and their fame began to rise. From then on, PayPal started to grow all around the world by building contracts with many online merchants. In 2006, PayPal added 10 new currencies to its platform due to the international growth. In 2007, more EU access was gained through landing an EU banking license. By doing so, PayPal gained around 35 million customers just from the EU, including 15 million from the UK.

Eventually, they also partnered with Mastercard that enabled customers to pay with PayPal on websites that did not support it. By the end of 2007, $1.8 billion revenue was generated. With the money generated, the company decided to search for possible competition to buy out and in 2008, Bill Me Later was acquired for around $1 billion. This payment method brought along more than 1,000 stores and partners including big titles like Amazon. In 2015, after around 16 years of partnership, eBay decided to drop PayPal and continue operating with another payment method. PayPal will remain available for customers as a payment method on eBay until July 2023.

Nonetheless, PayPal continued to grow and grow. In 2018, they bought iZettle, a Swedish payments startup, for $2.2 billion. This enabled PayPal to further expand and be present in 11 markets all around Latin America and Europe. During that year, they also bought Hyperwallet for $400 million that enabled them to offer their payment method to e-commerce platforms all around the world. Till this day, PayPal continues to expand their operations by adding more currencies and launching mobile applications. Due to constant advancements in technology, mobile payments increased to $4 billion in 2011 and continued to double year-on-year.

PayPal’s Markets

The three main markets that are utilizing PayPal include:

  1. E-commerce

Companies make use of PayPal as it is seen as the medium that allows potential customers to make payments from all around the world through many different methods. Due to the protection offered by PayPal as well as a large market access, companies can enjoy quick and safe payments. Moreover, when collaborating with PayPal, it is an indication to customers that your site must be highly reputable and safe. This increases the likelihood of a conversion taking place.

  1. Food Establishments

PayPal can be used both when paying at a brick-and-mortar restaurant as well as for online delivery. Customers feel at ease knowing that they can pay for their meal through an efficient and safe method. When offering the option, restaurants allow customers to pay either via card or their PayPal account while holding the trusted name of this successful company. When it comes to online delivery orders, restaurants can easily attract customers with PayPal reliability and efficiency.

  1. Online Casinos

PayPal is ideal for online casino sites. This eases the deposit and withdrawal processes for players since PayPal is considered as a fast and efficient payment method. Due to being a highly reputable company, PayPal collaborates only with casino sites that keep up with the highest of standards that ensure fairness and security to all players. Visit Mr Casinova to find highly reputable casinos where you can use PayPal at. Although there is a lot of competition for payment methods in the casino industry, by far PayPal remains the most popular.

These industries are massively benefiting when offering this payment method as it remains the most popular payment method around. From PayPal’s history one can notice how the company knows exactly how to expand their growth and offer their services to their market. The more users that create an account with PayPal, the more their service is needed by retailers. This creates an ongoing cycle that can only result positively for PayPal.