The news: The back-to-school season is giving payment platforms an opportunity to attract ad spending. 

Parents want to simplify the stress of back-to-school shopping, per a PayPal survey conducted by Morning Consult—consolidating intent signals for all-in-one payments platforms’ Financial Media Networks (FMNs). 

• Almost two-thirds (64%) of parents say they want one app where they can shop deals and pay. 
• Over half (57%) of parents say they are more likely to shop retailers that offer payment flexibility.
• And more than half (53%) of surveyed parents claim flexible payment availability influences which retailer they choose.

Why this matters: Between PayPal’s FMN and robust buy now, pay later (BNPL) offerings, the payment player is potentially well positioned to scoop up back-to-school ad spending. 

• PayPal launched its FMN in May 2024 in an effort to deepen shopping, checkout, and financing opportunities with its high-intent consumers and offer valuable transaction-level attribution for partnering advertisers. 
• The growth potential for FMNs is high: We forecast that US FMN growth will more than double that of travel and commerce intermediary media networks by 2028. Back-to-school habits mean PayPal has the opportunity to lift its FMN’s performance by driving more users to its app, especially as US consumers begin to search for deals on banking and fintech providers’ apps for deals over traditional retailer pathways.

Installment opportunities may aid PayPal in developing those new consumer pathways. PayPal is second to only Cash App Afterpay in “Pay in 4” loans and BNPL in the US, per Federal Reserve data.

Parents of young children are some of the most eager BNPL users, with two-thirds of caregivers holding three or more BNPL loans at once, per a Lending Tree survey. As this demographic’s loyalty becomes increasingly tethered to payment flexibility, PayPal has an opportunity to encourage more parents to shop through their app for deals and installments, strengthening their loyalty with those consumers and bolstering the strength of the ads on its network.

Implications for payment providers: Installment offerings add stickiness to checkout, but payment providers still need to work to secure BNPL dollars, especially through making BNPL approval fast: 43.4% of BNPL users cited approval speed and ease as a driving factor in using the payment method, per PYMNTS.

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