PayPal has agreed with CVS Pharmacy to provide the option to cash out on the card via PayPal payment systems, like both PayPal and Venmo. The organization revealed this morning that CVS would become the first national pharmacy to allow consumers to pay at the counter with either their PayPal or Venmo QR code, at no charge. The charge would be taken from the funds present in the current account balance, checking account, or debit or credit card of the client, just as it will be online. Additionally, Venmo consumers would have the option of paying with their Venmo Incentives.
CVS agreed to carry out the product in the fourth quarter of 2020 across 8,200 US stores. In May, PayPal launched the latest QR Code platform for buyers and sellers to 28 countries worldwide.
The organization described the deal as a means for buyers and sellers to interact in person in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic to make it healthier. Instead of handing over a credit card to be swiped or read, buyers may complete a purchase by directing their mobile camera to a QR code that was either written out or displayed on the seller ‘s screen for a touch-free payment process.
Based on proven infrastructure, the CVS offer expands it to a big, national chain. PayPal’s collaboration with payment service company InComm, which PayPal defines as “the start of a multi-year deal” between the two payment processing providers, is making possible the latest CVS checkout experience. The partnership allows InComm to deliver PayPal QR Code technologies through its cloud-based app upgrades and would provide merchants with the checkout functionality directly on their point-of-sale terminals.
The essence of the alliance PayPal has with InComm suggests that this is a bigger deal than just a single seller. PayPal has not, though, publicly announced which other merchants are in the pipeline. Reached for comment, PayPal told TechCrunch that this touch-free checkout process is now available in their stores in ongoing discussions with additional merchant partners. This is not the first time that PayPal has tried to bring its payment system into the list.
The first brick-and-mortar partnership with Home Depot was back in 2012. Soon after, PayPal grew to 15 more major stores, including names such as JC Penney, Office Depot, Rooms To Go, Foot Locker, Barnes & Noble among others, via ties with half a dozen point-of-sale terminal manufacturers, among collaborated with POS tech company AJB. Further collaborations were later carried out, including those with Revel Systems’ iPad POS service provider and NCR hardware manufacturer.
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PayPal has lost the lead in the in-person electronic payments room to Apple Pay, following its advances. Apple said its Apple Pay transactions reached 3 billion in its fiscal Q3 in November 2019, surpassing PayPal. Overall, however, Paypal is still ahead of Apple Pay in the digital payments room, but critics have cautioned that Apple Pay is one of PayPal’s “long-term strategic risks.”
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In other words, PayPal must find a better footing at the register. And it sees the pandemic as the perfect moment to explore its interactive payment system. The news comes coming up on the heels of solid second-quarter earnings from PayPal, which saw the firm acquire 21.3 million net new active accounts in the quarter, taking its overall assets to 346 million.
