PayPal is introducing new tools for small business owners, such as Apple Pay support at checkout, the ability for customers to save their credit cards for this specific site, and access to IC++ pricing.
Small and medium-sized businesses currently have two options for incorporating PayPal into the checkout flow.
In addition to the Standard Checkout integration, which allows you to accept PayPal payments with minimal effort, the company also offers an Advanced Checkout integration feature for businesses that require more personalization and payment features.
Customers can now make Apple Pay payments to businesses that have chosen the latter option.
Customers can already make payments through PayPal, Venmo, and PayPal Pay Later, as well as credit cards, using the checkout tool.
PayPal is also expanding its checkout product with a new tool. Customers can choose to save their cards in a secure vault for that specific e-commerce business — the card will not be stored in a PayPal account because card payments do not require a PayPal account.
The IC++ pricing model for businesses is also being introduced by the fintech. PayPal previously offered a flat fee model for advanced checkout. The IC++ structure is made up of interchange fees (charged by the issuing bank), card network fees (charged by a network such as Visa or Mastercard), and markup fees collected by PayPal.
Using this method, merchants can see if they can incentivize customers to use cards issued by a specific bank or network.
PayPal is up against Amazon, which launched the Buy with Prime product in January, which includes checkout and shipping.
In a recent client note, wealth management/research firm Bernstein stated that companies are offering services other than the checkout button, which has historically been PayPal’s core strength.
PayPal has also attempted to be a checkout option for various e-commerce purchases. It partnered with Amazon last year to offer customers Venmo as a payment option.