PayPal is continuing along its path to monetize Venmo’s 40 million-strong user base. On Wednesday, the company said 15 million Venmo users engaged in monetizable transactions.
The company is focusing its efforts to generate revenue from Venmo by taking use cases beyond casually paying friends for beer, rent or other peer-to-peer transactions, which aren’t moneymakers for the company. Instead, PayPal’s plans center around e-commerce payments through Venmo to participating merchants and fee revenue generated from those transactions.
While instant withdrawals currently are the largest contributor to Venmo’s revenue, the company wants to grow adoption of its its consumer-to-business payments use case, which is called “pay with Venmo”, said John Rainey, PayPal’s chief financial officer, in a call with investors. PayPal also pitches Venmo’s social feed as a purchase driver to retailers.
According to the company, millions of e-commerce merchants accept Venmo as a form of payment. The company added five new retail partners this week, including Fandango, Stitchfix, 1-800-Flowers, Today Tix and Ticket Network, adding to a list that already includes such notable brands as Uber, Forever 21 and Foot Locker.
See also: PayPal Tests Incentives to Bolster Venmo Debit Card Adoption
For consumers, Venmo fees include 1% to transfer funds to their debit card instantly, with a minimum fee of 25 cents and a maximum fee of $10; and 3% to transfer funds through a credit card. The Venmo debit card, which launched last year, also charges users $2.50 for out-of-network ATMs.
To drive up adoption, PayPal is testing incentives to encourage more consumers to use Venmo debit cards. In May, the company offered 5% cash back on all purchases made at a grocery store. The incentive was designed to drive adoption and increase interchange fee revenue. A 2017 Cornerstone Advisors study found 24% of millennials would be very likely to use a Venmo debit card, maybe even as their main card.
Venmo’s total payment volume (TPV) hit $24 billion during the second quarter, a 70% year-over-year increase. The company expects Venmo to hit $100 billion in TPV by year’s end.