When you get to the cash register, you now have a new option for payment aside from cash, check, or plastic.
Reuters says it has exclusively learned that Office Depot has joined Paypal’s pilot program that allows customers to pay for transactions with their account in brick-and-mortar stores.
This is only a test program for Office Depot as well, as the retailer is only rolling out the option at a select number of locations.
“It’s at this point in a small number of stores … because there are still some rough spots in that experience. There are some limitations on who can use it, service carriers that support that,” Reuters quoted Office Depot North American president Kevin Peters as saying.
The retailer joins Home Depot in its willingness to at least try Paypal’s new system. In the future, Paypal hopes to start attracting stores that don’t have “Depot” in their name.
It is kind of a win-win situation. It’s unclear how much Paypal charges brick-and-mortar stores in transaction fees with the new program, but we have to imagine it would be competitive with credit card acceptance fees.
However, there are politics with everything and no doubt many retailers have sweet partnerships with the major credit card issuers and don’t want to rock that boat.
Nevertheless, it is a clear trend for 2012 that retail payment solutions will undergo a paradigm shift not seen since the adoption of credit cards. Mobile technology like Google Wallet is also poised to make a splash. Stay tuned for a lot more in the way of developments in this field.
