PayPal Buys Honey in Promotion Personalization Deal

In the US, shopping and rewards platform Honey Science Corporation is to be acquired by PayPal for $4 billion. The deal will enable PayPal's network of 24 million merchants to offer targeted and more personalized promotions to consumers.

Founded in 2012, Honey's seventeen million monthly active users tap into the firm's suite of tools to track prices, receive alerts, make lists, browse offers and participate in a rewards program called Honey Gold. The company offers features which inform shoppers of an item's price history, including the historical pricing of any product on Amazon, and the platform also automatically searches for coupons on users' favorite shopping sites. For every purchase made, Honey receives a small percentage of the transaction cost.

While the platform doesn't track users' search engine history, e-mails or browsing history on any site that is not a retail web site, when a user is on a pre-approved retail site, Honey will collect information about that site that lets users know which coupons and promos are available. According to PayPal, the acquisition supports the firms' shared mission to simplify and personalize shopping experiences for consumers, while driving conversion and increasing consumer engagement and sales for merchants.

As part of the deal, Honey will enable PayPal to reach consumers at the beginning of their shopping journeys, while enhancing PayPal's ability to help merchants acquire and convert consumers by delivering offers that are personalized, timely, and optimized across channels. Following the acquisition, Honey will retain its headquarters and brand in Los Angeles, California, and co-founders George Ruan and Ryan Hudson will continue to lead the Honey team as part of PayPal's Consumer Product and Technology organization. Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal, comments on the deal: 'As a partner of choice for our merchants, this is another way that we can help them build and strengthen their customer relationships, provide personalized offers, and drive incremental sales.'

Web sites: www.paypal.com and www.joinhoney.com .