Transforming PayPal / Venmo into a Networked Commerce Discovery Engine
Commerce North Star is PayPal/Venmo's bold initiative to transform from a transaction-only platform into a networked discovery ecosystem. The project introduces the Commerce Graph, a company-wide architecture enabling users to discover merchants, products, and offers in-app, unlocking new commerce surfaces and increasing engagement.
UX Design
Product Strategy
User Research
Client
PayPal / Venmo
Role
Senior UX Designer
Challenges
Missed discovery opportunities
PayPal and Venmo had an extensive two-sided network (400M+ consumers, 35M+ merchants), but only engaged users at the final payment stage, missing upstream moments where discovery and influence actually happen—on social platforms, search engines, or peer recommendations.
Low Merchant Visibility
Merchants lacked native tools to surface their offerings, run contextual promotions, or build direct relationships. Meanwhile, users experienced a static feed with no personalized product suggestions or socially-driven shopping incentives. This disabled merchants to re-engage customers within Venmo.
Success goals
Native
Discovery
Personalized
Feed
Graph
Intelligence
User
Incentives (PYUSD)
Merchant
Analytics and tools
Data
Consent
Approach
Strategy
I introduced the Commerce Graph, an intelligent system connecting users, merchants, SKUs, and brands through behaviors like subscriptions and purchases. My strategy was to transform Venmo from a passive payment tool into a discovery platform. I designed a personalized feed and merchant-facing tools to drive two-sided value and engagement. These included self-serve campaign builders and rich merchant profiles.
I mapped the discovery loop as graph edges with subscriptions, purchases, wishlists—and defined user and merchant journeys. I collaborated with product, data, and engineering teams to align on the MVP and long-term roadmap. I validated concepts through research and A/B testing. The experience was built to scale within PayPal’s design system while staying mobile-first for Venmo.
Learn
Most users explore based on peer transactions and trends. The value perception is enhanced when cashback, points, or exclusives are integrated.
Discover
Users are willing to subscribe to stores and SKUs if offers and relevance are high.
Merchants desire performance insights and automated re-engagement tools.
Testing
Conducted clickstream studies and A/B tests with smart receipts and SKU follow flows. Validated campaign builder usability and subscription prompts.
Impact and outcomes
Merchant Growth
Over 320% increase in merchant subscriptions and 50+ campaigns launched in the first month highlighted strong adoption and ease-of-use.
User Engagement
Smart receipts, rewards, and social shopping loops boosted repeat purchases by 18% and deepened in-app activity.
Trusted Personalization
65% of users opted into data-sharing, validating our consent-first approach and PYUSD incentive model for personalized discovery.
Scalable Framework
The UX model successfully aligned with Venmo’s mobile-first design and scaled across PayPal’s broader ecosystem and roadmap.
Work
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