Research by Statista reveals that PayPal is currently the dominant form of online payment across the US population.
PayPal is one of those companies that has become an actively used verb as well as a proper noun. You don’t transfer people money (because who would say something so mundane?), you PayPal your friends, clients, and vendors. While that’s not the same level of success as the company name becoming a common noun (making xeroxes instead of copies, even though Xerox is the name of a brand), that’s still ahead of the curve in the marketing game. There are a lot of online payment options available to the public, especially with competitors such as Apple, Amazon, and Google joining the fray; however, it should be noted that PayPal isn’t in this game alone.
Like any other major conglomerate, PayPal has another popular alternative online service that’s gaining a lot of traction with younger generations: Venmo! Even with Venmo being a very ill-conceived idea (who wants to build a digital empire around payments? No one likes their finances being publicly discussed), it has still managed to gain a lot of traction amongst millennials and gen Z, with the service being an incredibly convenient method of paying friends and loved ones.
At any rate, let’s take a look at Statista’s numbers, which were derived via a survey involving 7,600 US adults from the ages of 16 to 64. PayPal takes the majority of the US marketplace share, with 37% of users having utilized it at least once over the past 12 months. Second up is Venmo, with a stark drop in usage, down to 15%. Despite the massive difference, this is still a major victory for PayPal as it has a strong grip on consumers. Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay take third, fourth, and fifth positions respectively at 12% usage each. Our last three spots are occupied by VisaCheckout (7%), Afterpay (5%), and Klarna (4%).
I will say this: Afterpay and Klarna deserve some credit for essentially being indie startups that managed to make it up to the big leagues, even if their shares are relatively minor. Venmo didn’t exactly start as an impressive money management platform and it still managed to make it to second place; ultimately execution will cover for a platform’s youth.
Read next: One-third of consumers think Customer Experience has upgraded, and a third seems less satisfied
PayPal is one of those companies that has become an actively used verb as well as a proper noun. You don’t transfer people money (because who would say something so mundane?), you PayPal your friends, clients, and vendors. While that’s not the same level of success as the company name becoming a common noun (making xeroxes instead of copies, even though Xerox is the name of a brand), that’s still ahead of the curve in the marketing game. There are a lot of online payment options available to the public, especially with competitors such as Apple, Amazon, and Google joining the fray; however, it should be noted that PayPal isn’t in this game alone.
Like any other major conglomerate, PayPal has another popular alternative online service that’s gaining a lot of traction with younger generations: Venmo! Even with Venmo being a very ill-conceived idea (who wants to build a digital empire around payments? No one likes their finances being publicly discussed), it has still managed to gain a lot of traction amongst millennials and gen Z, with the service being an incredibly convenient method of paying friends and loved ones.
At any rate, let’s take a look at Statista’s numbers, which were derived via a survey involving 7,600 US adults from the ages of 16 to 64. PayPal takes the majority of the US marketplace share, with 37% of users having utilized it at least once over the past 12 months. Second up is Venmo, with a stark drop in usage, down to 15%. Despite the massive difference, this is still a major victory for PayPal as it has a strong grip on consumers. Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay take third, fourth, and fifth positions respectively at 12% usage each. Our last three spots are occupied by VisaCheckout (7%), Afterpay (5%), and Klarna (4%).
I will say this: Afterpay and Klarna deserve some credit for essentially being indie startups that managed to make it up to the big leagues, even if their shares are relatively minor. Venmo didn’t exactly start as an impressive money management platform and it still managed to make it to second place; ultimately execution will cover for a platform’s youth.
Read next: One-third of consumers think Customer Experience has upgraded, and a third seems less satisfied
