Cash Killers: PayPal coming to over 7 million US stores next year
Wednesday, eBay's online payment subsidiary PayPal announced it had partnered with credit company Discover to bring PayPal payments to an estimated seven million merchant locations across the United States. Beginning in the second quarter of 2013, consumers will be able to make payments with their PayPal accounts at the registers of these merchants.
Merchants looking to accept PayPal payments will have to upgrade their point of sale hardware or software, and PayPal's digital wallet technologies will be accepted. eBay on Wednesday did not go into significant detail about the mechanics of how payments will be administered, but it falls in line with the company's previous announcements about PayPal moving offline and Discover simultaneously improving its online presence.
For the last five years, this has been the trend among financial service and credit companies...and where these online and offline services meet is in the consumer's smartphone. Companies such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover have been pushing mobile wallets and contactless payment systems so they can break into historically cash-dominated businesses like quick-sale retail (like Starbucks), kiosk vending, and transit fare/parking/toll collection.
Ultimately, these companies are looking to replace cash in any way they can, and by partnering with online payment networks, they can bridge the gap.
"This relationship quickly extends PayPal's reach to millions of merchant locations nationwide and is a milestone moment for us that will create new benefits for Discover merchants without requiring new hardware or software," said Don Kingsborough, PayPal’s Vice President of Retail, in a statement Wednesday. "This relationship will deliver a truly seamless digital wallet, available most places consumers shop offline, which offers the speed, simplicity and security already enjoyed by 113 million active PayPal customers online."
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