PayPal gives retailers new way to drive sales

There have been many bold predictions about retail trends, but not as many predictions about trends when it comes to the future of retail payments in the digital age. Well, for PayPal, it seems as though the future is now.

The company announced at NRF’s Big Show in New York that it is expanding its PayPal Credit service to allow retailers to decide on the number of months and interest rates that work best for their customers. Retailers can now use PayPal Credit to let customers pay off a purchase over the course of several months. They can choose the number of months as well as the interest rate. And there’s even an interest-free option for online shoppers, which can be approved in minutes.

PayPal already operates in many facets of payment processing, not only under the PayPal name but also through its acquisitions like Braintree and Venmo. PayPal is also very connected to its merchants in providing services like credit, payment processing, and even cutting edge payment terminals.

PayPal also said it is rolling out business consulting services that make use of PayPal’s vast store of consumer transactions to help businesses tackle problems like shopping cart abandonment. These are all services that banks traditionally provide.

Beyond merchant counseling and consumer credit programs, the company said it is also very excited about Bitcoin — but more as a transaction method than as a currency. PayPal has already teamed up with BitPay and Coinbase for processing Bitcoin transactions. But if PayPal does move more toward becoming a bank, Bitcoin could play a huge roll in how PayPal builds out its infrastructure — making transactions and bank transfers more instantaneous.