PayPal has evolved from a niche products with great usage in eBay transactions to a fully developed tool of the mainstream online payment world in American consumers‘s minds, shows a new Cardbeat survey conducted by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG). They survey results state that more than three-quarters (76%) of American consumers have an active PayPal account, a great increase from 55% in ACG’s 2008 survey.
“PayPal has long been popular with young consumers,” noted Patricia Sahm, Managing Director at ACG, “but it’s striking to find that 69% of respondents 45 and older said they have an active PayPal account. Many of our respondents say they feel more comfortable using PayPal rather than their credit cards for online shopping.”
The Cardbeat survey also showed significant increases in PayPal usage frequency, which rose from an average of 10.8 purchases a year in 2008 to 14.0 annual purchases in the most recent study.
While PayPal currently accounts for less than 10% of total online sales volume, the sharp growth of ecommerce powers and will continue to drive larger amounts and more frequent transactions to the payment service. The trend is also backed by official statements, as PayPal reported a 27% increase over 2009 in Black Friday online payments.
“We’re seeing substantial gains in consumer willingness to provide their bank account information to PayPal,” Sahm said. “Where Visa and MasterCard formerly had a complementary relationship with PayPal when consumers used their credit cards to fund their PayPal account, the credit card networks are cut out of the exchange when PayPal is positioned like a debit card linked directly to the checking account.”
Back in 2008, 45% of survey respondents said that they were “uncomfortable”” with the idea of providing bank account information to an internet-based payment company like PayPal. This year’s results show the percentage had fallen to 31%.
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