Dive Brief:
- PayPal is extending payment options across Facebook for U.S. consumers, including on Messenger, according to a company announcement.
- The post said that the Facebook payment expansion is largely an effort to make mobile commerce “smarter, simpler and more secure for consumers as well as merchants.”
- Facebook users will now be able to link to PayPal accounts with Facebook, and apps like Messenger will provide notifications for transactional communications like managing PayPal receipts. Merchants will also be able to more easily connect with Facebook and Messenger users.
Dive Insight:
Facebook and the Messenger app in particular are quickly evolving into hubs for facilitating things like in-app purchases, so more e-commerce capabilities arrive as a natural extension of that.
For PayPal, the integration is important as it looks to bolster its role as a leading digital payments network now that competition is growing from card networks, banks, technology startups and even retailers.
“Our focus on partnering with innovative companies to create better experiences for merchants and consumers remains strong," wrote Bill Ready, EVP and chief operating officer at PayPal, in the post. "This collaboration continues to showcase our march to be a customer champion.”
As The Wall Street Journal points out, Facebook and PayPal still stand as competitors in certain respects, as the social media brand offers other payment services that potentially rub up against PayPal's platform. But The Journal also noted that payments are better integrated into social interactions in the Chinese market, and industry experts expect that will become the case in the U.S. somewhere down the line.
Facebook might then be trying to position itself as the social leader for when that market eventually matures stateside, though other messaging services like Kik have recently upped their e-commerce game as well.