How this premium gifts brand drives payment flexibility and customer trust with PayPal

Outdoor365 Group is a UK ecommerce business built around one principle: the right product, sold well. Across five specialist storefronts – premium personalised gifts at Farrar & Tanner and quality outdoor gear at Swiss Store, Multi-Tool Store, Buck Store, and Gerber Store – the group sells to customers who know what they want and expect a buying experience to match.

With PayPal Checkout and Pay Later Messaging built into all five brands, Outdoor365 Group has a payment setup that supports customer confidence, keeps operating costs lean, and is showing measurable results.

Key Takeaways

• PayPal accounts for 21.6% of Outdoor365 Group's UK sales¹
• Pay Later usage among Outdoor365 customers is up by approximately 50% year-on-year since adding Pay Later Messaging banners¹
• Outdoor365's Pay Later average transaction value is approximately 14% higher than non-Pay Later transactions¹

"Adding Pay Later messaging made a real difference to our overall sales performance."

– Richard Tanner, Executive Chairman, Outdoor365 Group

The opportunity

Outdoor365 Group runs five specialist ecommerce storefronts with a central team of around 30 people. Each brand serves a distinct customer – survival gear buyers at Multi-Tool Store and Buck Store, outdoor enthusiasts at Swiss Store and Gerber Store, and gift and homeware shoppers at Farrar & Tanner, the group's largest brand. The business sells primarily in the UK, with active reach across approximately 30 international markets.

The business is highly seasonal. November runs roughly twice the monthly order average; December can reach triple, compressed into the first 20 days. On peak trading days, volumes exceed 2,000 orders against a daily average of around 300. Managing that load across five separate storefronts with a lean team means every operational decision must hold up under pressure.

Payment was one of them. With the group's previous payment provider, Richard – Chairman & CEO - had needed to step in to review large or unusual orders manually – checking invoice addresses, querying delivery locations and second-guessing transactions. Fraud detection had become reactive, not proactive.

For a business selling premium products to customers who were often buying from a brand they hadn't used before, what was needed was a payment setup that handled risk without adding overhead. Customers needed confidence at checkout with no additional fees and the offer of flexible payment options.

The solution

Across all five Magento-hosted storefronts, Outdoor365 Group relies on PayPal Checkout and PayPal Pay Later (built into PayPal Checkout) to handle payments and drive flexible payment use.

PayPal Checkout

For a multi-storefront business with a lean central team, having a single payment solution that runs reliably across all five brands removes a significant layer of operational complexity. With PayPal Checkout, there are no transaction-level decisions to make and no manual order reviews. Richard hasn't needed to intervene on a fraud case since making the switch and chargebacks are rare.

For customers, the impact is different but equally important. Outdoor365 Group's brands are specialist retailers, not household names. When someone lands on Farrar & Tanner or Swiss Store for the first time and is weighing a £300 or £750 purchase, seeing PayPal at checkout builds trust.

"PayPal, I've never had to worry about it," Richard says. "It works very well. The service, the support is always there when you need it. And it's a trusted brand that gives our customers a lot of confidence."

Pay Later Messaging

PayPal Pay Later – specifically Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 Days² – is built into PayPal Checkout. This gives Outdoor365 Group's customers the option to spread the cost of their purchase. For a group selling products from £80 multi-tools to £750 personalised chess sets, payment flexibility helps customers commit to higher-value purchases without requiring them to pay in full upfront.

Critically for Outdoor365, transactions completed via Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 Days carry no additional processing cost compared to standard PayPal Checkout³ – a meaningful consideration for a business balancing margins across five brands.

Around a year ago, Outdoor365 Group also activated Pay Later Messaging banners across its storefronts. Positioned below the "Add to Basket" call to action on product pages, the option to spread payments is visible to customers before reaching the checkout. The effect was immediate, with more budget-confident customers, more Pay Later usage and more sales.

The impact

PayPal now accounts for 21.6% of Outdoor365 Group's UK sales¹, with the Pay in 3 flexible payment option representing 15.9% of that PayPal volume. There has been a steady adoption of flexible payments across the group's customer base.¹

On the group's busiest days, order volumes exceed 2,000 against a daily average of around 300.¹¹PayPal handles that load without intervention meaning no manual reviews and no operational interruptions at the moment it would be most disruptive.

Pay Later Messaging produced a clear before-and-after too. In the twelve months since adding Pay Later banners, Pay Later usage is up approximately 50% year-on-year with overall PayPal usage up almost 10% year-on-year.¹ Pay Later purchases carry an average transaction value approximately 14% higher than non-Pay Later transactions, a gap that reflects how spreading the cost helps give customers the confidence to purchase higher-value items.¹

For a multi-brand ecommerce business running five storefronts with a small team, PayPal delivered a payment setup that works reliably at scale, builds confidence with new customers and actively drives Pay Later adoption for the group.