Pandemic Accelerated Digital Transformation by 3-5 Years, Says PayPal

When the pandemic began, “consumers in lockdown had no choice but to do all of their shopping online,” said PayPal CEO Dan Schulman on a Q4 call Wednesday evening. The vast majority of consumers now say that post-crisis, “they will continue to shop online at their current elevated levels because it is more convenient, easier and saves time,” he said. “Retailers are rapidly adapting to a new landscape, adjusting their strategy from encouraging consumers to visit their stores to optimizing for home delivery.” PayPal estimates the pandemic “has accelerated a digital wave of change across almost every industry by three to five years, unleashing a profound and permanent structural transformation,” he said. The service added 16 million net new active customers in the quarter, he said. “For the year, we delivered a record 73 million net new actives, ending the year with 377 million active accounts,” up 24 from 2019, he said. “We now have over 29 million merchants interacting with nearly 350 million consumers. In 2021, we expect to add another 50 million net new active accounts.” Daily active users in the quarter were up 29% from Q4 of 2019, he said.