There's one massive shift in the way people buy things that PayPal's CEO is really excited about
"Everyone's saying this is the year that really what they call 'omnichannel around the mobile phone' - being used online, in-app, in-store - is coming to the forefront," Schulman said at Business Insider's Ignition conference on Wednesday.
That means more people are now shopping directly within mobile apps as opposed to going to retail stores, and even when they do, they're starting to consider the use of mobile payments instead of cash. That's also enhancing the overall shopping experience because retailers can now send coupons or promotions based on past shopping records.
In fact, mobile commerce hit an all-time high in the US this year, with Americans spending more than $11.4 billion through mobile web and apps in the third quarter alone, according to BI Intelligence. A recent comScore report said 60% of US consumers online used mobile devices to interact with retailers, while the time spent interacting with retailers on smartphones nearly doubled over the past two years.
Schulman says PayPal's sole focus on digital and mobile payments is also what separates it from other competitors, like Square, who draws most of its revenue from the card-swiping devices it sells to merchants.
PayPal's product offerings are all centered around digital payments. It includes the core PayPal online payment service, but also Venmo, the popular mobile peer-to-peer payment app, and Braintree, the payment processing service that powers the payments technology for apps like Uber, Airbnb, and Pinterest.