PayPal cites Javelin’s survey and advocates alternative payments

Cliff Hopkins, senior director of PayPal’s North America marketing team, cited some figures from the recent report from Javelin Strategy & Research and pointed to the advantages of using alternative payment option PayPal and Bill Me Later included. He underlined that merchants accepting only credit cards are losing on online sales as long as more consumers are giving their preference to other flexible payment methods.

According to the Javelin’s study cited by Hopkins nearly 1/3 of retail transactions are expected to be made via alternative payment options by 2013. With that, the survey reveals while online payments are forecasted to represent just 3.5% of total retail sales in 2008 customers are increasingly adopting alternative payment types. Hopkins mentioned tough economy environment leaving people with less access to credit and with cash as their primary option for making purchases. He recommended merchants that limit their payment tools with credit cards to shift to ‘alternative payment options to ensure that they are maximizing sales’.

“For merchants, we think this survey reinforces a secret we’ve known for a long time – merchants that accept only credit cards are missing out on online sales. Consumers prefer the flexibility afforded by PayPal and other alternative payment providers like Bill Me Later (now an eBay company). PayPal allows consumers to pay using account balances, credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts and Bill Me Later offers consumers the opportunity to buy something immediately and pay for it later, all with convenience and security,” he said.