The useful question is what changes for users, developers or buyers, and whether the announcement stays industry context or becomes something people can actually use.

PayPal Ads is positioning its service as a measurable alternative to impression-based advertising by leveraging the PayPal Transaction Graph, which aggregates purchase signals from more than 25 billion transactions across 400 million PayPal and Venmo accounts. Unlike traditional retail media networks confined to single retailers, PayPal’s cross-merchant data captures spending patterns across categories, enabling advertisers to target audiences based on actual buying behavior rather than engagement metrics. Mark Grether, SVP & GM of PayPal Ads, emphasized that this approach aligns with CFO priorities by focusing on outcomes such as return on investment, incremental lift, and new customer acquisition.

Adorama, a photography and electronics retailer, used PayPal Storefront Ads powered by the Transaction Graph to target high-intent buyers, achieving a 7.3x incremental return on ad spend and a 14.9% incremental transaction lift. The campaign also attracted new customers, with 56% of purchasers having not bought from Adorama in the prior 12 months. Yoav Shargil, CMO of Adorama, noted that the real purchase behavior data enabled the brand to reach an audience it previously couldn’t capture through existing channels, driving meaningful improvements in both new customer acquisition and return on investment.

Best Buy utilized PayPal Storefront Ads to efficiently reach high-intent shoppers in consumer electronics and home technology, powered by the Transaction Graph. The campaigns delivered a 6.25x return on ad spend and dwell time 22% above platform benchmarks, enhancing both efficiency and consumer engagement. Amy Adams, Vice President of Media at Best Buy, stated that the Transaction Graph provided incremental signals based on real shopper behavior, complementing the company’s customer intelligence to better target high-intent buyers and improve conversion rates.

Etsy, a platform for small businesses, employed PayPal Storefront Ads to reach the right buyers using audiences powered by the Transaction Graph, the only cross-merchant commerce signal available. Etsy is now testing an integration with PayPal’s Conversion API to send its conversion data back into the Transaction Graph, creating a closed-loop system that refines audience targeting and measurement. Gabe Trumbo, Director of Performance Media at Etsy, highlighted that the Transaction Graph enabled better matching of sellers with shoppers, and the Conversion API integration aims to further enhance campaign effectiveness by closing the data loop.