This article includes tips, suggestions, and general information. We recommend that you always do your own research and consider getting independent tax, financial, and legal advice before making any important decision.
This article includes tips, suggestions, and general information. We recommend that you always do your own research and consider getting independent tax, financial, and legal advice before making any important decision.
PayPal Beyond, our summer 2025 merchant event series, saw innovative cohorts of business leaders gather in Milan, London, Cologne, Munich, and Berlin. All came to learn how advances in intelligent tech can help to drive growth. Increase customer retention. And improve operational efficiency.
Engaging keynotes from PayPal’s leadership. Intimate panels alongside merchant partners. Compelling conversations throughout the event. In these formats, our diverse participants across small-, mid-, and large-sized businesses explored the latest tech innovations in payments, personalisation, and artificial intelligence (AI). Discussions centred around strategies that can help businesses to better understand customers’ evolving shopping habits. And improve customer interactions.
The following hot topics were dominant across each event.
Businesses are dealing with the challenges of innovating in a fast-paced, evolving marketplace. They need flexible solutions that can help them to streamline operations. And stay competitive in today’s digital economy.
PayPal stakeholders had front-row seats for the discussion of the next wave of payment innovation. At the centre? PayPal Open. A modular, flexible, and unified next-gen platform.
PayPal Open can help with scaling smarter and giving customers better overall experiences. With tools that can help to drive sustainable growth.
PayPal Open is designed to help merchants to:
Attendees were excited to discuss how PayPal’s innovative tools are helping their businesses to thrive amidst today’s extraordinary pace of innovation.
Attendees shared their need for adaptable solutions that can help them to address the increasing pressure to streamline operations. And stay competitive. They also reflected on the negative impacts of unexpected fees and awkward user experiences. Or a lack of familiar or flexible payment options.
As many as 68% of online shoppers surveyed have abandoned their carts because of checkout friction.1 Panellists used real-life case studies to share how PayPal payment tools have helped them to create a more seamless experience that can help to reduce abandonment. And boost conversion.
Shoppers expect a personalised experience. But many merchants lack the tools for scalable, data-driven personalisation tied directly to transactions.
Attendees were eager to hear how our latest solution PayPal Ads can help to remove friction from the purchase process at scale, through personalisation with AI. PayPal Ads is powered by unique purchase intent insights data.
Panellist and audience members enthusiastically swapped stories of fresh developments changing the customer experience at scale, and resulting in more sales. They discussed:
Flexible payment solutions like buy now, pay later (BNPL) continue to activate opportunities for both merchants and shoppers. Some of the liveliest panels at PayPal Beyond featured local merchants sharing success stories about how BNPL helps them to:
By far the hottest topic in each city was the future of AI. And how businesses will benefit from PayPal's vision for intelligent commerce, with agentic AI.
PayPal is meeting the moment by investing heavily in agentic AI. We’re providing innovative tools to help create next-generation shopping experiences that are powerful. And radically user-friendly.
These developments are exciting. But they’re just the beginning of how we’re using AI to improve every aspect of the customer experience.
This exciting half-day event solidified PayPal’s commitment to innovation. And it demonstrated how we collaborate with our global partner/customer network in the quest to reinvent commerce and build intelligent tech. More importantly, attendees can turn thought-provoking discussions into actionable business insights. To help their businesses to drive growth, increase customer retention, streamline operations, and reinvent commerce. With AI.
Whilst the first wave of PayPal Beyond events across Europe is over, you can watch this recap for the highlights. Stay tuned for future announcements about additional locations.