In bold efforts to penetrate U.S. point-of-sale (POS) payments, PayPal Holdings Inc. is integrating its debit card with Apple’s mobile wallet and offering cashback rewards. Through this move, the online payment giant is surely seeking competition with tech giants and banks.
This move is part of an ambitious strategic shift to secure a share of in-person purchases at stores, cafes, and restaurants, which is led by the new CEO, Alex Chriss, who joined PayPal from Intuit last year.
Chriss said, “E-commerce has obviously been one of the fastest growing areas where people are spending their dollars… but it’s not everything.” He added, “Now consumers can use PayPal for every purchase, everywhere, every time.”
Although the company has been dominant in online and peer-to-peer payments through the Venmo app, it has never pushed its customers to use the products in person.
The push into POS payments includes 5% cash back for certain products up to $1,000 per month while using PayPal Debit MasterCard. There are also additional rewards from brands like DoorDash, Domino’s, and Sephora.
PayPal allows customers to use debit cards with Apple Pay as a way to capitalize on the popularity of mobile wallets and “tap to pay” options.
According to Reuters, this is the company’s largest-ever marketing investment to promote using PayPal in person, though we are not sure of the exact amount poured into the decision.
This action is certainly followed after the heightened competition that the company faced earlier in June for Apple and Mastercard.
