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PayPal Holdings Inc. is getting a boost from Blackhawk Network, a major gift card platform, which early Tuesday launched a promotion that could lift results for Blackhawk as well.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based Blackhawk announced early Tuesday it is offering 5% cash back to consumers who opt in and buy digital gift cards using their PayPal wallet. The promotion brings transactions to PayPal but also benefits Giftcards.com, an online gift card marketplace Blackhawk acquired for $120 million in 2016.
Giftcards.com offers “hundreds” of cards for retailers, restaurants, entertainment venues, gaming, and other companies, according to Blackhawk. Now, the promotion with PayPal could help Blackhawk meet an objective of satisfying consumers who are increasingly adopting and using digital wallets.
PayPal reported 438 million active accounts in its third-quarter, up 1.4% year-over-year, while the number has more than doubled over the past decade. Account growth has slowed since PayPal reached a peak during the pandemic and as the company in the past couple of years has also stressed payment activity and user engagement.
For its part, Blackhawk says in a media release the promotion with PayPal will create a foundation for “future phases of wallet-based integrations.”
Also on Tuesday, PayPal said it will work with april, a platform offering tax-filing technology, to let users of the PayPal Debit Mastercard file their 2025 returns electronically with the IRS free of charge.
The program, which PayPal says is eligible for rewards and also offers early access to any refunds, starts Tuesday but will roll out to debit card holders over the coming weeks. Federal tax returns are due April 15.
