PayPal’s One Touch Attracts 10 Million Users (Dec. 22, 2015)
One Touch, a mobile payments tool from PayPal Inc., has attracted 10 million worldwide users since its general launch in April, the newly independent company says. The newest figure compares with approximately 7 million consumers PayPal reported using the technology in its third-quarter earnings release in October. In all, PayPal claims 160 million consumer and 13 million merchant customers around the world, according to that earnings report.
More than 1 million merchants accept payments via One Touch. The more than 1 million One Touch transactions each month come from consumers in 23 countries, with China and Hong Kong among the latest locations to have access to service. In the U.S., more than half of the largest online retailers as measured by annual revenue have enabled One Touch payments, PayPal says. Those retailers include the likes of Bed Bath & Beyond, Sur La Table and Macy’s.
With One Touch, consumers use the PayPal mobile app for transactions with participating merchants. That consumer links her PayPal app to the One Touch function, enabling purchases with a single tap. Amazon offers a similar technology. PayPal’s One Touch stems from the company’s acquisition two years ago of payments processor Braintree. OneTouch was launched via Braintree in August 2014, followed by a launch via PayPal nearly nine months ago.
“Unlike new checkout tools that require a login and password, once a customer opts in, One Touch authenticates customer credentials for up to six months, so people don’t need to even log in to check out,” says Bill Ready, PayPal’s senior vice president, global head product and engineering. “This enables people to more effectively use the spare moments in their day to order dinner or do their holiday shopping in just seconds, without needing to type or tap any information to check out.”
During the PayPal Q3 earnings conference call with analysts on Oct. 28, at least one analyst said he knew of a “few major merchants” that were reluctant to do business with a “middleman” such as PayPal when it comes to One Touch mobile payments. That analyst noted that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (among some 70 other retailers) is taking part in the pilot of Merchant Consumer Exchange’s CurrentC mobile payments wallet. CurrentC will support private-label cards, ACH, gift cards and Chase Pay.
“Looking at what Walmart is able to do directly with Chase … does this set a precedent that could severely impact PayPal’s prospects at point-of-sale with large merchants?” asked the analyst, according to an online transcript of the call from Yahoo Finance.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman replied that his company was working “one large merchant after another throughout not just the country here, but across the world. That we’re a neutral third party is a strength.”
PayPal spun off from eBay Inc. this summer.
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