Executive vice president and general manager of PayPal Frank Keller strongly believes that this company is ready to redefine the world of business payments, even though the last two years have been a period of slow decisions and actions for the firm that lacked the speed of implementation, although all this time the giant of the fintech industry did not experience a crisis and was not in the condition of total decline.
Over the past two years, what can be called an actual internal reality for the mentioned company has been meetings on the strategy of long-term activity and development, the number of which was very large, which could give the impression that the corresponding indicator was approaching the boundary separating the figures comprehended by the human mind from the readings fixing infinity. Movement, in this context, not in the literal sense of a physical process, should be deliberate, but sometimes discussions of a plan become an obstacle to its implementation. The specified period was also a chronological space for the activities of two chief executive officers.
PayPal Open was launched in the current week. This event can be called a kind of reference point in the context of the moves of Frank Keller and his team to consolidate many of the company’s offerings, including Braintree, Zettle, Hyperwallet, and Chargehound, into a single brand.
Mr. Keller, while in Germany and talking to media representatives, said that the current PayPal development strategy was launched after one of the clients said that the firm has a lot of amazing stuff, but consumers don’t know about it. Also, according to him, he has been working on this launch for two years in terms of how to establish the company as a business-to-business (B2B) organization.
PayPal was founded in 1998. In the process of its development, the company has achieved significant results at the reputational level, becoming synonymous with the consumer-facing checkout button both in the perception of clients and in the perception of the industry. At the same time, its B2B solutions were an assortment of homegrown technologies and acquired companies with little cohesion. Launching PayPal Open means that those names will fade into the background. In this case, the company gets the opportunity to focus its efforts on becoming more important to the business.
Frank Keller likens efforts with other consumer brands that have successfully expanded into B2B. In this context, Amazon Web Services was mentioned as a kind of illustrative example. At the same time, PayPal chief executive officer Alex Chriss’ early success was largely attributed to boosting transaction margins and more efficient monetization of major acquisitions such as Braintree, which specializes in credit card payment processing for Meta and processed nearly $600 billion of total payments last year.
Landing on the name Open took months of marketing research, internal discussions, and the implementation of practices such as last-minute strategic pivots. In the corporate space of the company, as reported by the media, there were even discussions on the topic of whether to focus more on Braintree.
Frank Keller stated that PayPal is one of the most trusted brands in the world. He made this statement as part of an explanation of the logic of the mentioned decision.
Alex Chriss took over as PayPal’s chief executive officer in September 2023. After that, Mr. Chriss faced some pressure related to the expectation that he would be able to orchestrate a turnaround, which was necessary against the background of the experience of several difficult years for the company.
The firm’s branded checkout business, which has historically been the most profitable segment, has recently been in an area of increasing competition. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shopify’s Shop Pay have significantly weakened PayPal’s position, especially among young consumers who opt for mobile-first payment solutions. Branded checkout accounts for 30% of PayPal’s total payment volume.
PayPal Open is designed not only for processing B2B payment transactions. Businesses, developers, and partners will also be able to integrate financial services and business insights powered by artificial intelligence. It is worth noting separately that all of the above is available through a single connection. In this case, merchants have simplified access to fraud protection, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, global transactions in 140 currencies, and lending solutions.
It is also worth noting separately that one brand does not join the consolidation. In this case, Venmo is meant. The peer-to-peer payment app of the same name has more than 90 million active users in the United States and is almost universally distributed among a young audience. Frank Keller noted that Venmo is a very distinct brand for consumers.
The PayPal Open rollout started this week, and a phased transition of brands will begin in April. This means that Braintree and Hyperwallet won’t disappear overnight.
Frank Keller stated that businesses do not need to rip and replace their Braintree or other integration. Instead, the company will provide seamless access to all PayPal offers. Frank Keller also noted that in this case, efforts are aimed at demonstrating the ability of the firm to become a true enterprise powerhouse. According to him, PayPal wants to be an open platform where businesses, developers, and partners can build upon the company’s solutions. The example demonstrated by this firm demonstrates that status or position in the industry is not a lifelong constant and is a fact of reality only if it is permanently moving forward. It is worth noting that this rule is generally characteristic of human life as such if an active way of existence is implied.
As we have reported earlier, PayPal to Pay $2M Fine for Cybersecurity Failures in New York State.
