TRC for PayPal: Case Study Featured in Harvard Business Review

July 21st, 2022
Kevin Dona | Executive Vice President
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Can a Payment Product on PayPal Help Retailers Grow Their Sales? 

“Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) helps drive both sales and customer loyalty for retailers. The TRC survey revealed three major advantages.

Recently, Harvard Business Review featured an article about TRC Insights study conducted for PayPal.

We are proud to share how the study results influenced PayPal’s global expansion strategy for their “Buy Now Pay Later” (BNPL) product.

The multi-country quantitative study involved surveying thousands of consumers in North America, Europe, and Australia to gauge their awareness consideration and usage of various payment options. An augmented sample of BNPL users in each market provided deeper understanding of usage occasions and behaviors.

We uncovered some unexpected insights in our reporting:

  • Broad appeal of BNPL beyond the prime target of Millennials
  • Consumer benefits include budgeting support and improved cashflow
  • Advantages of offering BNPL is threefold for the merchants: higher conversion, larger average cart size, and fewer abandoned carts

Read the full article on HBR website – For Retailers, a Direct Link from “Buy Now, Pay Later’ to the Bottom Line. 

Kevin Dona | Executive Vice President

I came to market research intentionally, drawn by the opportunity to solve complex business problems at the intersection of data, technology, and human behavior. With a background in engineering, I’ve always been motivated by analytical rigor—but I found market research offered something more compelling: problems shaped as much by people and context as by numbers.

Over my career, I’ve worked on thousands of new product and innovation studies across categories including FinTech, technology, food and beverage, personal care, OTC, and medical devices. That breadth has built a practical, experience-driven perspective I rely on to recognize patterns, challenge assumptions, and design solutions that lead to better decisions.

In recent years, much of my focus has been on advancing how we use artificial intelligence in our work. I’ve helped drive the adoption of new AI-enabled tools, including AI-assisted interviewing and internal productivity solutions, while collaborating closely with our analytics team on emerging approaches such as digital twins and digital personas. My role is often to translate between methodology, technology, and real-world application in ways that genuinely improve outcomes.

Outside of client work, the engineer in me is still very much active. I’ve been coding for more than 40 years, starting with a Commodore 64 in my early teens, and I continue to spend a significant amount of my free time building and experimenting with software. From AI systems and data modeling to audio, imaging, and 3D environments, I enjoy understanding how things work at a fundamental level—and where their practical limits are.

When I’m not working or building something, I’m usually tackling a household project or spending time with my wife and four kids, which remains my favorite way to recharge.

Education: MBA, University of Pittsburgh, B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Penn State University

Contact Kevin via email or call him directly at 215.641.2232

Kevin’s LinkedIn profile