PayPal to acquire merchandise return firm Happy Returns

PayPal is acquiring start-up Happy Returns for an undisclosed amount to mark another venture in e-commerce as it moves beyond payments.

The 120-person Santa Monica-based Happy Returns deals with returning things bought online.

Frank Keller, senior vice president of consumer in-store and digital commerce at PayPal, addressing pain points in the post-purchase experience is something they’ve been looking into.

The acquisition will help solve problems in returning and shipping items for merchants and help drive foot traffic to those businesses as the economy reopens.

Keller expects the product to incentivize more merchants to sign up for PayPal products.

The company works with around 31 million businesses that will eventually have access to the in-person returns network.

PayPal’s acquired Honey, a browser extension that lets consumers find and use coupons while shopping online, for $4 billion in late 2019.

It also announced in March that it would acquire cryptocurrency security company, Curv, for $200 million.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman underlined online shopping as a key leg of growth.

Happy Returns has about 2,600 drop-off locations for returned products for an immediate refund or exchange.