Starting July, UK customers will start seeing personalised PayPal ads and enjoy an enhanced shopping experience with the payment leader’s innovative marketing solution.
PayPal, a global online payment platform, is launching its new service PayPal Ads in the UK. The roll-out will take place gradually so that end customers will see relevant ads in July.
The innovative targeted marketing tool will use PayPal’s vast pool of transaction data, allowing brands to create dynamic ad messaging and full-funnel campaigns based on customers’ past purchase history. This highly personalised approach might not only boost sales chances but also improve the experience for shoppers, facilitating the discovery of products and brands that align with one’s preferences and expectations.
PayPal Ads leverages data from billions of transactions its 434 million active users have made over time across PayPal, Venmo, and Honey, to better understand and predict consumer purchasing behaviour. According to the company’s calculations, its money transfer data covers nearly a quarter of all e-commerce transactions globally. Unlike many other targeted ad solutions, these real-time purchase insights allow advertisers to reach prospective buyers based on their actual shopping patterns rather than just browsing history.
The AI-driven solution aims to help merchants capitalise on the new ways consumers employ to find desired products or services in a brand-new “world where shopping is agentic, invisible, and everywhere.”
Unlike purchase data available from separate retailers, PayPal’s cross-merchant data gives brands valuable insights into market share, competitive performance, and the overall effectiveness of their campaigns. This data-driven feedback helps in optimising marketing strategies in real time and offers a holistic view of ad performance.
At its launch in late 2024, the service was available exclusively in the U.S. It was preceded by a few months of initial testing for a linked advertising feature within the PayPal app. Called “Advanced Offers,” the tool allows advertisers to offer PayPal users promotions such as cashback and discounts. It charges advertisers using a performance-based approach – only when a purchase is made.
Upon the initial stage, PayPal Ads will include placements on over 30 million merchant websites that use PayPal’s payment systems. Such an integration should create a “retail media network” that spans both digital wallets and third-party online retailers. Besides, PayPal has a vision of expanding its ad offerings with video ads this year and adding a self-service platform for brands to manage their campaigns. The firm also plans to expand its operations to Germany after the UK roll-out.
To understand the value of the offering, one may look at the latest payment processing data reported by PayPal in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company handled approximately $438 billion in total payment volume during Q4 last year, marking a 7% increase compared to the same period in 2023. That translates to around 6.6 billion payment transactions a quarter, a 6% growth from the previous year.
The advertising business functions as a separate division of PayPal Holdings, led by Mark Grether — who previously built Uber’s $1 billion ad business.
