PayPal has revealed a new iOS and Android app that’ll let customers use their mobile devices to pay at high street shops in the UK. The inStore app will let customers pay via PayPal at participating retailers, even when there’s no mobile or WiFi signal. Aurora Fashions - the company responsible for Coast, Karen Millen, Oasis and Warehouse fashion stores - is the first retailer to take part.
The PayPal inStore app provides the customer with a unique barcode and number for each transaction. This is then scanned by the shop cashier, which enables the retailer to take payment from the customer’s PayPal account.
Security is provided by a PIN code; no personal or financial information is stored on her phone.
Cameron McLean, Managing Director of PayPal UK, said “Today marks the start of a quiet revolution in the way we shop on the high street. We've created a simple, secure way to use a mobile phone to pay in your favourite stores. The revolution starts today at Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Coast. The lines between the online world and high street will soon disappear altogether: research we carried out last year amongst major retailers suggested that 2016 will be the year you won’t need a wallet to shop on the British high street. A phone will be enough. Today's move also underlines our view that mobile payments don't need near field communication (NFC) technology to succeed. PayPal’s ‘pay by mobile’ service works with the phones most of our customers already own. And our retail partner doesn't have to install new systems to take in-store mobile payments.”
15 million people in the UK are currently registered with PayPal. The new PayPal service launches tomorrow and will be available in 230 stores.