OfficeMax second retailer to pilot PayPal's in-store solution

OfficeMax second retailer to pilot PayPal's in-store solution
Tags: POS, Retail
January 23, 2012

Reuters reported over the weekend that PayPal is testing it's point-of-sale system in Office Depot Inc stores. This is the second high-profile retailer known to be working with PayPal on perfecting its POS solution.

Just last week, PayPal said it will be expanding its tests with initial partner Home Depot to include 51 stores mainly in the San Francisco area. The plan is to include all Home Depot locations by March.

PayPal has said it expects to have its services available at the point of sale in 20 major retailers by the end of the year.

The company has been working hard to showcase its POS solution for retailers. It featured many of its new products for offline merchants at its booth at the National Retail Federation show in New York City last week. Many retailers have paid a visit to PayPal's pop-up store in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan to see PayPal's solutions on display.

According to Anuj Nayar, PayPal's director of global communications, more than 100 retailers have visited the PayPal store since it was opened in mid-October.

For more stories on this subject, visit the Retail research center.

Reader Comments

Greg Serv

about 3 months ago

PayPal's plan of POS attack is to entice merchants with below-cost credit and debit card processing, which is an offer no retailer will refuse. The company will subsidize its losses from the card transactions with the very high-margin profits it enjoys when its users fund the sales amount from their bank accounts.

On the other hand, whether the consumers will be won over is another question altogether. If it is to stand a chance, PayPal will need to make the checkout process as uneventful as possible. As it is, the customer is asked to enter his or her cell phone number, in addition to a PIN, before the transaction can be completed. That's unnecessary and excessive. I would never give my cell phone number to a merchant (or PayPal) to protect myself against spam, whatever assurances to the contrary they may give me. And I'm far from alone.

Still, given the amazing deal that retailers get out of it, I like PayPal's chances. http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/paypal-is-coming-to-your-grocery-store