PayPal brings its commerce platform to Irish businesses

26 Mar 2021

Image: PayPal

The platform aims to helps businesses accept payments from multiple sources from customers in different markets with greater ease.

PayPal has launched its commerce platform for businesses in Ireland to support the ever-growing trends in e-commerce and digital payments.

The PayPal Commerce Platform expands the sources that a business can accept payments from.

While allowing a seller to receive payments through a PayPal balance and debit or credit card, it features the ability to enable local payment methods for overseas shoppers from 200 markets internationally and in more than 100 currencies.

It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve compliance and anti-fraud checks for merchants, helping them stay in compliance. The platform also allows for businesses to use PayPal QR codes for in-person transactions and the PayPal Business Debit Mastercard to access business funds.

Covid-19 and lockdowns over the last 12 months have greatly accelerated trends in e-commerce and online shopping, all the while further whittling down the status of physical cash in brick-and-mortar stores as more people turn to contactless and mobile payments.

According to figures collated by the payments giant, 59pc of Irish consumers expect that digital wallets will become the prominent way of paying. Furthermore, 45pc of respondents to the survey said that they anticipate checkouts to become completely contactless – again accelerating the shift away from notes and coins.

“There has been tremendous change in the world of commerce in recent years with the dominance of mobile, the shift away from cash and the popularity of shopping online,” Joachim Goyvaerts, director of Benelux and Ireland for PayPal, said.

“Of course, this evolution – which will only gain more pace in the months and years to come, as shown by our research – brings complexity,” he said. “However, it also presents a fantastic opportunity for those Irish businesses that are willing to fully embrace digital commerce and take advantage of the global marketplace.”

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

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