We’re Not Here To Compete With Small Businesses, Says PayPal

Addressing a virtual roundtable conference on Wednesday, Jim Magats, SVP of Omni Payments at PayPal said that they’re not here to compete with small or other businesses but rather aim to create connectivity between all different businesses and consumers.

This was in reference to BW Businessworld’s question regarding PayPal’s entry in the super apps category and how does it plan to address issues which some other super apps in the country are being accused of by small businesses. 

“Ultimately, we’re about conversion, we’re about converting commerce that would be hard to do and our aspects of being a super app is really about how do we curate experiences together for both merchants and consumers that makes it easier for them to interact. We get paid on bringing two parties together and the moment we start disintermediating them we lose our value proposition,” Magats said.

Earlier in the conference Magats had said that PayPal is now looking to become a super app for consumers which essentially means that it will incorporate various financial services and utilities bill payments with an integrated shopping hub. “Basically, we want to create a shopping hub for our consumers to make sure they have the right offers and access to the right information about where to buy products at the right price,” Magats added.

Focus on Small Businesses

For small businesses, Magats said, the focus is around creating an omni channel experience for them and sellers. He said that during the Pandemic we saw that people wanted to sell online and one challenge that has been there is that for many businesses their capabilities of selling in store are different from their capabilities to sell online. “We’re in the process of enabling our new solutions such as our QR Code solution that will allow merchants who open up their stores to accept payments more easily,” he said.

Payments aspect still a priority

Magats informed that even though PayPal is evolving as a commerce platform, the payments aspect is at the company’s heart and a lot of work is being done to get the payment process rights. “Tools like AI and Machine Learning are being used to make sure transactions, especially cross border transactions are being done with the right sellers which will ensure that people have a sense of confidence when they’re buying through PayPal,” he added.

Among other areas on which Magats shared his thoughts include areas of interoperability, having an open platform, focusing on cross border transactions and making it easier for people around the world to buy from merchants anywhere in the world.