The past 12 months have seen a spike in online shopping like never before, and digital transactions have boosted payment volumes.

As consumers turn to eCommerce, Paypal has now seen great results.

PayPal has reported its strongest first quarter on record and has smashed profit estimates.

PayPal’s quarterly performance comes off the back of an equally strong 2020 for the payment platform, which also saw record levels of payment volumes.

PayPal processed a total of $285 billion in payments in the first quarter of 2021. That’s up 50% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the company also added 14.5 million new active customers.

“Our strong first-quarter results demonstrate sustained momentum in our business as the world shifts into the digital economy,”

Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman

The company has been one of the many big winners of the COVID-19 pandemic. More people have used Paypal’s payment services to shop online and pay bills while staying indoors during lockdown periods.

PayPal says it expects to add 52–55 million net new active accounts in 2021.

In February, Paypal forecasted to receive an additional 50 million active users in 2021, that number now increasing.

According to Reuters, it also expects annual revenue and diluted earnings per share ahead of analyst estimates, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

PayPal reported a first-quarter net income of $1.22 per share. That far exceeded analysts’ estimates of $1.01 per share.

The rise of online shopping

Since the world was introduced to COVID-19 and governments right across the world had to lock down nations, many took to online as a way to do their shopping.

As the lockdowns played out in Australia, the boom in online shopping was revealed by Australia Post, which state that two million parcels were being delivered each day.

The national courier revealed during the peak months of COVID-19 in 2020, AusPost was pushed to capacity.