PayPal is capitalising on the growing Australian ecommerce market with three million active users and over 30,000 Australian businesses now using PayPal, as the number of customer registrations grew more than 25 per cent in the last calendar year.
The total payment volume for PayPal in 2009 was almost US$2 billion, an increase of 32 per cent from 2008.
PayPal enables online payment for both large and small Australian businesses including JB Hi-Fi, Roses Only, Dick Smith Electronics, Hoyts, Borders, Flight Centre, DealsDirect, Optus and Telstra.
“After five years of growth in Australia, momentum is building rapidly in the ecommerce space and more than half of Australia’s top 100 retailers are now using PayPal,” said Frerk-Malte Feller, managing director PayPal Australia.
“Australian retailers are recognising the threat from overseas retailers trying to cash in on the Australian retail market both on and off-line and we are seeing a response to this.”
In addition to domestic growth, PayPal has enjoyed a growth in cross border sales. The recent rise in the Australian dollar has brought about a year on year increase of 32 per cent in cross border payments as Australians seek bargains and choice from overseas, and take advantage of the strong dollar.
With more than 81 million active accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies, PayPal enables global ecommerce. Many Australian businesses from fashion boutiques to travel sites are attracting new audiences and expanding revenue streams by selling their wares abroad.
Jonathan Reid, director of MyCatwalk.com said that building revenue from overseas was critical to his business.
“PayPal has proved an incredibly popular payment method in the US, UK and Europe, and more recently Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.”
Over the past five years, several factors have been responsible for the slower uptake of e-tail amongst Australian consumers. While the cost of shipping, long delivery times and uncertainty around returns policies have prevented some consumers from shopping online, concerns around the security of transactions remains the number one concern to consumers shopping online today.
“We integrated PayPal the minute it was available in Australia,” said James Stevens, CEO and founder Roses Only.
“Delivering a gifting service, it is critical that our customers feel confident that their payment is secure. Many customers are concerned about providing credit card details. PayPal addressed this issue instantly by enabling our customers to shop in comfort without sharing their details online.”
According to Feller, while PayPal has seen growth in leaps and bounds in the last five years, he expects the future to be even more exciting.
“We have come an incredible way in the last five years, yet I predict we will surpass these developments in the next two years. We are passionate about continuing to find new and innovative ways to securely connect buyers and sellers worldwide by providing solutions that fit into consumers’ lifestyles, be it online, through social networks or mobile devices,” he said.