If you’re a millennial or older, chances are you have a somewhat strange opinion about PayPal. Whereas younger generations simply view PayPal as virtual payment platform, those of us old enough to remember it during the early noughties see it as this sort of strange and useless relic of the past.
That’s not a slight on the company, in fact it’s more of a back handed compliment. When PayPal was first established in 1998 barely anyone had a PC in their homes and of those and only a tiny percentage of those PC owners shopped online. Technology reshaped every industry imaginable, over the next decade or so more and more people began to get access to the internet, but still the majority of buying and selling took place in person, so PayPal seemed like something of a misnomer.
Fast forward to 2024 and PayPal is being used by hundreds of millions of users across the globe to buy and sell products and to generate invoices. PayPal have always been an ethical company, and they go above and beyond to ensure transactions aren’t used for fraudulent payments. Their squeaky-clean image has resulted in 33% of the population of Canada using PayPal as a payment method so it’s important Canadian companies facilitate it. The competition amongst iGaming sites in Canada has resulted in them having to increase the number of payment methods available to players, and PayPal have benefitted from this. If you sign up with a casino that accepts PayPal, you are likely to be able to skip the lengthy registration process, so you can deposit funds and play right away, this is a key feature players are keen to take advantage of. If you do find a provider which doesn’t accept PayPal, you should take extra care before playing with them.
Thanks to these extra measures and added convenience, the company has undergone phenomenal growth since the noughties, but it has caught the eye of investors in the past 12 months as its share price has steadily been on the increase. In this article we take a look at the recent reasons for PayPal’s rising stock price.
Revenue Growth
It’s simple to say but PayPal’s revenues have gone up in the past 12 months as the company has branched out to more customers. The emergence of Apple Pay and Google Pay could potentially have crippled PayPal, but the converse seems to have happened.
Those two providers helped to accustom the wider public to digital wallets, who once familiar with the concept graduated to using PayPal, a company with a longer track record of success and security in the industry.
PayPal’s revenues have skyrocketed in recent years
Profit Growth
The company have made a great success of streamlining their business model in recent months, reducing costs across almost every area of the business. This has led to a larger profit margin for PayPal which, in combination with increased revenues has left shareholders smiling from ear to ear.
High Profile Partnerships
The talk doing the rounds at the moment is that PayPal’s efforts to integrate the Venmo debit card onto Apple Pay and Google Pay is a key reason for the company’s improving share price. We think it’s a bit simpler than that. Earlier in the year PayPal partnered with Amazon to see their service integrated into the Amazon Prime checkout process.
That’s a huge deal. To avoid leaving you in any doubt as to just how huge the deal is, Amazon posted revenues of $575 billion last year…
The partnership with Amazon has been game changing for PayPal
Tap to Pay
Again it sounds incredibly simple, but PayPal’s decision to introduce contactless payment has kept them as a first choice card provider for users all across the globe. It’s simple and a no-brainer, but that doesn’t make it any less effective.
Cryptocurrency
When it comes to digital wallets and online payment providers, PayPal leads the way with cryptocurrency. Whether Bitcoin, Ethereum and the other major players will all fulfil the bold claims made by their diehard supporters remains to be seen. But as the hype around them continues, PayPal is making sure it’s at the front of the line to cash in on it.
Societal Changes
Every time you pay via card or digital wallet, you are costing the merchant money. That’s not a conspiracy, that’s a fact. Merchants have to pay transaction fees, rental fees for terminals and other hidden costs to handle card payments.
That’s why there has been somewhat of a backlash in recent years from independent businesses, with many taking a stand and refusing to accept anything but cash. Unfortunately for them, they are fighting against the tide as more and more people every month are ditching cash in favour of card.
Whilst that’s bad news for small retailers, its great news for a company that was established in 1998 with the express hope of operating in a world just like the one we have now.