BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - PayPal has added Mapco Express and Spartan Stores to its growing list of physical retail locations, Reuters reports. The payment processing company has been expanding into the brick-and-mortar world, with last year€™s announcement of partners Home Depot, JC Penney and Abercrombie & Fitch, among others. With these two new additions, the number of physical retail locations PayPal is partnering with comes to 23.

Mapco Express has more than 440 gasoline stations and convenience stores, while grocer Spartan Stores has 97 stores. PayPal is likely targeting convenience stores and supermarkets because of the frequency of customer visits at those retailers. "If they can penetrate those (categories) they can reach a significant majority of the U.S. population on a regular basis," said Sanjay Sakhrani, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

PayPal also is in talk with other retailers, according to the news source.
"You€™re not going to change where you get your prescriptions or get groceries or gas, so PayPal has to be accepted everywhere you shop," said Don Kingsborough, a PayPal executive and speaker at the upcoming NACS Leadership Forum in February.

The Mapco partnership relies on QR codes at the pump that can be scanned with a smartphone. The customer uses the smartphone to select how much gas to purchase and any loyalty card discount pops up as the tank is filled. PayPal completes the transaction via the smartphone.

Kingsborough said PayPal is working with "major petroleum companies" on other partnerships.