PayPal is giving small businesses a seat at the retail media table. Today, the payments giant unveiled PayPal Ads Manager, a new platform designed to let small merchants create their own advertising inventory and generate fresh revenue streams. With 99.9% of U.S. businesses classified as small, the move could unlock billions of new ad impressions for brands across sectors.
Retail media networks have grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, but until now, the opportunity was largely limited to large enterprises with the traffic, expertise, and infrastructure to sell advertising. PayPal aims to democratize that process, enabling small businesses to monetize their existing traffic without upfront costs or minimum commitments.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but they’ve been locked out of the retail media revolution,” said Mark Grether, SVP and GM of PayPal Ads. “PayPal Ads Manager changes that equation, creating thousands of high-quality advertising placements while allowing SMBs to participate in a high-margin revenue model.”
How It Works
PayPal Ads Manager is designed for simplicity. Merchants can opt in, integrate an SDK in minutes, and set advertising preferences. From there, PayPal automatically serves ads aligned with the merchant’s guidelines—eliminating the need for hands-on ad selection.
For instance, a small coffee roaster can prevent competitors from advertising on their storefront while serving ads from complementary businesses, like clothing retailers, earning revenue that can be reinvested in marketing, inventory, or seasonal hiring.
The platform also unifies campaign management in the PayPal Merchant Portal, letting merchants track ad performance alongside other business tools.
Features SMBs Can Leverage
- Monetize Store Traffic: Turn existing traffic into high-quality ad placements.
- Generate New Inventory: Open previously unavailable ad space for brands to reach high-intent shoppers.
- Unified Campaign Management: Track campaigns in one familiar platform alongside existing PayPal tools.
- AI-Powered Creative Tools: Generate professional campaigns without dedicated marketing teams.
- Cross-Channel Reach: Run coordinated campaigns across PayPal properties and social channels.
PayPal Ads Manager is powered by the company’s 25 years of payment expertise, proprietary transaction graph, cross-merchant purchase insights, and closed-loop attribution. This allows advertisers to reach consumers based on real purchasing behavior, not just browsing history—an increasingly critical differentiator in a privacy-conscious ad ecosystem.
