PayPal Unveils Plans to Streamline Payment Process Online and In Stores (Jan. 16, 2014)
PayPal is vowing to make it simpler for consumers to use its brand. The San Jose-based company this week unveiled some key technical changes it says will cut the steps needed to pay online and inside stores with PayPal, streamlining processes for consumers and merchants. During the National Retail Federation conference this week in New York, PayPal demonstrated its new Beacon device and also detailed the various changes it’s making to eliminate hassles when using PayPal across various platforms.
For e-commerce merchants, PayPal is rolling out a new Log In with PayPal feature. Consumers using PayPal on participating Websites can stay on that site while logging in to pay, without being redirected to PayPal’s site, and the feature automatically populates shipping, preferences and payment information, Don Kingsborough, PayPal vice president of retail services, explained in a blog post. PayPal will provide the upgrade first to a few large online merchants, expanding to more within the next few months, and to small and midsize e-commerce companies later this year, he said.
On the in-store side, PayPal is tweaking its “payment code,” a mobile checkout process introduced in October 2013, which also builds on a deal inked in 2012 with Discover Network. Beginning next month, merchants that accept Discover cards or use Micros POS hardware may opt for a “small integration” to upgrade the software in existing POS terminals so consumers may use PayPal to check out and pay with their smartphones by scanning a QR code or entering a four-digit code into the PIN pad at the POS. PayPal’s payment code is ideal for restaurants and businesses with smaller tickets and high customer traffic, Kingsborough suggested. PayPal’s payment code is available at 1,500 U.K. retail outlets and in hundreds of taxicabs in Canberra, Australia; the company plans to expand it to “thousands more” smaller merchants by this summer.
