With the launch of the PayPal eCommerce Platform PayPal announced this week, the alternative finance provider will be helping small businesses gain access to ecommerce tools typically reserved for larger businesses.
In the company’s blog post announcement, COO Bill Ready said, “The PayPal Commerce Platform is designed to meet the specific needs of marketplaces, e-commerce solution providers, crowdfunding platforms and more by bringing together the most comprehensive set of technologies, tools, services, and financing for businesses of all sizes around the globe.”
With the new tool, businesses can access PayPal’s 277+ million active users. They can also operate on a more global scale, leveraging PayPal’s capability to accept more than 100 currencies. Perhaps most notably, however, the PayPal eCommerce Platform takes care of two headaches– compliance and security. Changing regulatory compliance mandates and constantly evolving security standards can make it difficult for businesses to keep up. PayPal’s eCommerce Platform meets demands regulators across 200+ markets and provides AI-powered fraud detection tools.
Previously, these tools were reserved for leading platforms such as BigCommerce, Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, Lightspeed, and Yahoo! Small Business. PayPal eCommerce Platform enables more businesses, and ultimately more people, to participate in the digital economy. “We want to help more businesses get started, grow and thrive in today’s complex digital world. It’s that simple,” said Ready.
This week’s launch may have something to do with the company’s back-to-back acquisitions made last year. Last June PayPal purchased merchant payout platform HyperWallet for $400 million and just weeks later acquired fraud prevention and risk management specialist Simility for $120 million.
PayPal Commerce Platform is available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The company hopes to expand it to more than 40 markets by the end of this year.
PayPal was founded in 1998 and has a market capitalization of $134.6 billion. The company showcased its Instant Account Creation feature at FinovateFall 2012.