eBay owned PayPal first announced their mobile wallet and push into Customer Present payments in late 2011. Now following trials with their mobile wallet at Home Depot stores, PayPal has announced their licensing, marketing and implementation agreement with VeriFone bringing the PayPal payment option to many POS terminals.
While retailers will continue to accept credit and debit cards at the point-of-sale, they will also be able to accept payments from a consumer’s PayPal account using VeriFone POS terminals. As PayPal displayed with their mobile wallet promotional video, in addition to checking out on their phone consumers will be able to pay with PayPal in-store using either a PayPal issued card or their phone number with a PIN. VeriFone is implementing software upgrades and new features on their MX Solutions product line to enable merchants to accept PayPal payments in-store using either of these methods. Additionally, the POS systems are designed to be “future-proof” making it easier to implement NFC should the PayPal mobile wallet go this route as well.
VeriFone’s customer base includes 80 percent of the 200 largest retailers in the United States and the rollout of the PayPal wallet will bring this alternative payment option to many consumers and merchants around the United States. VeriFone said they will initially layer the PayPal wallet payment options at select merchant locations in the United States, but in the long-term they will enable PayPal payment acceptance natively with new services and solutions packages.
While consumers and merchants have both enjoyed the benefits of alternative payments in the eCommerce space, the brick-and-mortar channel has been mostly limited to paper and plastic based payments. But as PayPal signs a major licensing agreement with one of the top POS terminal providers, consumers and merchants should both benefit from increased payment options. This deal may signal a tipping point as we approach the convergence of traditional, alternative and mobile payments at the point-of-sale.
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