Watch the Shift in Payments Preferences
by Mark H. Goldstein | CEO
Moosejaw, my clear #1 outdoor retailer website (with Altrec at #2 and Backcountry fading but holding on at #3) is pushing PayPal at its in-store kiosk. Expect REI and other big boxes to follow with making PayPal a featured check-out option. AND….Don’t expect PayPal parent eBay to not aggressively push for PayPal everywhere either…PayPal is now one of the favored payment choices for the ‘card carrying’ generation aged 35 and younger.
Traditional credit card providers and stores need to recognize this and add more relevant perceived convenience and reward value to their card services. This doesn’t mean offering low-cost debit options to compete with PayPal, IMHO—it’s too late for that. PayPal has critical mass and owns the peer-to-peer payments world. It likely means continuing to add web and service innovation at the edges that directly appeal to today’s younger buyers and influencers….it also means lots of experimentation with mobile payment and bar code technologies. Don’t expect immediate success but by not experimenting, established card firms are far more likely to miss it when critical-mass adoption takes off.
