Magazines Archives - 2011 Apr

PayPal expands its payment services into retail stores
Story 7 - E-commerce

E-BAY INC’S online payment facility PayPal Inc plans to expand its payment services into brick-and-mortar stores. This move will put it in direct competition with global payment corporations such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

PayPal president Scott Thompson announced, on the company’s official blog in early March, the appointment of Don Kingsborough as the company’s vice-president for retail and prepaid products “to help us bring PayPal offline and into traditional retail stores”.

Kingsborough was the founder and CEO of Blackhawk Network, a leader in prepaid third-party card products and a subsidiary of Safeway Foods.

Thompson explained why the time was right for the new venture: “If you’d asked me two years ago when would PayPal be in retail environments, I don’t think I’d have said ‘by the end of 2011’ but that’s the truth.

“Our developers started taking us there as soon as we opened our platform in 2009 and now many of our developer partners, such as Yorder and Bling Nation, have delivered new services and products that are designed primarily to reach consumers offline.

“These new ideas, coupled with the incredible rise in connected devices and smart phones, have pushed traditional lines between online payments and offline purchases together — opening up an entirely new market for PayPal as the megatrends of mobile, social and local collide.”

Thompson added: “Don’s experience in consumer product development, technology, retailing, POS and merchant relationships will prove invaluable as we work to bring PayPal to connected devices and the offline world.” ra

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