PayPal expands retail media platform into UK market

PayPal is rolling out its new advertising platform in the UK, following a successful US launch, tapping into its banks of customer data to help businesses better target their ads.

The financial services giant, which has more than 427 million customers worldwide, has been running PayPal Ads in the States since May last year.

The UK service will be launched in phases, with customers beginning to see ads from July this year.

It allows personalised offers to be shown to customers based on their past purchases. Meanwhile, the advanced platform promises to give merchants the ability to reach customers based on what they have actually bought across the Internet, down to individual products.

PayPal Ads senior vice-president and general manager Mark Grether, who joined from Uber last year to spearhead the project, said: “Commerce and advertising are deeply connected, and we believe that the advertising solution we are building at PayPal will become a must-use marketing and revenue channel for merchants big and small.

“In a world where shopping is agentic, invisible, and everywhere, brands need a partner that can help them reach these empowered shoppers.

“PayPal – and its wealth of consumer knowledge – will help brands and merchants not only respond to demand, but also thrive in this new commerce ecosystem.”

Last year, Criteo published a global study which predicted that the exponential growth of retail media will create opportunities for other commerce-led vertical sectors to open up their digital assets to advertisers, including the likes of airline, hotel, and financial services brands. It claimed the sector could be worth up to $100bn.