New study puts PayPal at the forefront of digital buying (PYPL)

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

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PayPal customers are completing purchases at a higher rate than all other competitors, according to new data from comScore.

PayPal customers made 15 million transactions per day on the PayPal platform, according to a company press release. And the firm’s completion rate — defined here as any user who does not switch payment methods during the checkout process — is higher than that of its peers. PayPal users are completing purchases 87.5% of the time, compared to 55.1% of the time for Visa Checkout users and 46.5% for users of other platforms.   

And this could continue to soar as PayPal’s single-click buy button option, which reduces friction and makes purchasing easier, becomes more popular:

• PayPal OneTouch, the firm’s one-click payment product, is on the rise. In December, OneTouch counted over 10 million users from 23 countries. That number is now at 21 million customers in 203 markets. And it still has considerable room to grow — OneTouch users only comprise roughly 7.5% of PayPal’s 179 million total customers.
• As a larger share of PayPal customers use OneTouch, conversion rates will likely increase. Buy buttons make online and mobile purchasing simpler by allowing users to skip friction-filled steps associated with online purchasing, like entering shipping and billing information. As more PayPal users begin using the simpler OneTouch platform, it’s plausible that conversion rate could rise even higher. 

The way we pay is changing rapidly thanks to innovative technology from companies such as PayPal that provide increased convenience for consumers. But that's just one piece of a much larger ecosystem.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.