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Digital advertising incorporated in branded checkout is the newest avenue for PayPal Holdings Inc. The digital-wallet and payments provider launched Storefront Ads Monday, a service to get PayPal-accepting merchant products in front of online consumers.
Storefront Ads not only showcases the merchant but includes a “Buy with PayPal” button within the ad itself. The checkout process flows through PayPal’s and Venmo’s network within the ad. PayPal says shoppers don’t have to leave the content they were viewing. After the purchase, they are returned immediately to where they left off, PayPal says. Storefront Ads also can present a “Buy with Venmo” button.
“PayPal Storefront Ads gives merchants a powerful way to reach new customers and re-engage loyal shoppers by planting dynamic storefronts directly within the open web, creating a compelling, frictionless shopping experience anywhere,” Mark Gether, PayPal Ads senior vice president and general manager, says in a statement.
The ads are expected to debut this summer. PayPal says they will adhere to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s standard units for online materials with brand carousels, which can showcase multiple images from a brand. Sponsored listings are coming later.
PayPal says Storefront Ads will tap into the PayPal transaction graph, a repository of real, cross-merchant purchase signals that can drive advertising that uses data from more than 430 million PayPal consumer and merchant accounts to help map purchase data with media.
“From buying a new pair of shoes on PayPal, splitting up a dinner tab on Venmo, or discovering a deal on electronics with PayPal Honey, the PayPal transaction graph seeks to map commerce activity to provide marketers a more complete view of their next potential shopper, enabling them to deliver highly personalized, privacy-safe messaging exactly where consumers are already engaged,” PayPal says.
Storefront Ads are one part of PayPal’s latest approach to growing its business, which accelerated with the hiring in 2023 of Alex Chriss as chief executive and president. It has benefited from a push in branded checkout, where consumers use PayPal or Venmo rather than third-party methods processed by PayPal, which increased 8% in volume in the most recent quarter.
