PayPal, the veteran online payment business, is increasing its marketing costs to back the company’s push into physical stores.
PayPal, owned by eBay Inc., is trying to become one of the common ways to pay for items physically. This offline market is bigger than the company’s online roots.
President David Marcus said in an interview with Reuters, “You’ll start seeing us amping marketing up later this year.” They expect to be in 2 million merchant locations by the end of this year, and are currently working on ways to convince users to choose Paypal over the usual credit or debit cards.
PayPal users would pay using a smartphone application, or use a PayPal card linked to their account. Customers also have the option of typing a mobile number and 4-digit pin which they have set up beforehand within the PayPal website.
Marketing will largely help the company push this yet unconventional option. PayPal has already run several online videos starring Jeff Goldblum to promote the new service.
“Swiping a card in a store is not hard. We really have to bring a lot of value to consumers to change that behavior,” said Marcus.
PayPal has already been testing the service at Jamba Juice stores in the San Francisco bay area, and will soon introduce it throughout the United States. Marcus has also announced partnership with RadioShack Corp, having Paypal available in all of the electronics retailer’s shops starting this month.
Lance Mounsey
Lance Mounsey is a professor in Marketing in a university in New York. He has also worked as a copywriter in a well-known advertising agency
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