The company’s stock has tumbled as much as 6.5 percent since last summer following product revamps.
PayPal Holdings CEO Alex Chriss recently promised that the company would “shock the world” with changes coming up to products like its mobile payments.
The announcement and the optimism it brought sent the stock price up by 5 percent for the days following.
The upgrades include mobile payments app Venmo revamps as well as the opportunity to use the PayPal app to earn cash back. Furthermore, the checkout process for consumers has been streamlined, according to a media announcement from the company. Among the new features include an option to transact in one click after payment information has been saved by the shopper.
“The announcements, while encouraging for a longer-term turnaround, could be underwhelming for investors that were looking for more specific catalysts coming out of today’s event,” said Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts in a prepared statement. “We see these as a gradual process of improvement that is likely to take time before they start to yield any positive results.”
Since the announcement of the changes, the mobile payments company’s shares initially fell 3.1 percent.
In the last 12 months, the company’s shares have fallen by a tremendous 23 percent.
Among the enhancements made to the Venmo product include the ability to use “subscribe” buttons. Moreover, merchants are also able to provide their customers with personalized recommendations and can promote themselves, said an announcement from PayPal.
“We’re about to embark on the next trend,” said Chriss in a media interview. “We’re now going to be focusing on AI personalization of commerce.”
Chriss first became CEO of the mobile payments company in August 2023. He has expressed his intentions to bring vibrant life back to PayPal following a number of challenging years. He explained that the last while hasn’t brought the company much to celebrate, but his plan is to change that.
Chriss pointed to weak acquisitions performance as the reason the company has been struggling and that he plans to “right-size” the firm.
He added that “We’re now focused on the problem of the next decade,” as tech provides sellers the opportunity to sell to shoppers worldwide. The challenge is to locate the right consumers in affordable way.