MCLEAN, Va. – Recognizing shoppers as they walk into the
store through their mobile device? Check.
Beacon, writes USA Today, is an effort by PayPal to get
consumers in physical stores to make a purchase with their smartphones rather
than by paying with a credit or debit card.
“This is the one thing I'm most excited to launch since
joining PayPal," said David Marcus, president of PayPal, the online
payment division of eBay, back in September at the TechCrunch Disrupt
conference in San Francisco, USA Today reports. "This is the first thing I
think that is better than swiping a credit card."
USA Today describes Beacon as “a three-inch high stick that
plugs into a wall socket and lets stores automatically identify and
authenticate PayPal users as they walk in. The gadget connects to stores'
point-of-sale systems and shoppers' smartphones using BLE [Bluetooth Low
Energy] technology, letting consumers pay without launching an app or
remembering to check in — actions that are currently needed to pay with the
PayPal smartphone app.”
Hasty Granbery, lead engineer for Beacon, told the newspaper
that the device has many advantages over traditional geo-fencing, including its
ability to locate smartphones more accurately inside the store. “So if you're
standing in the TV department for 30 minutes, a retailer can send you an offer
for 10% off if you buy in the next 20 minutes," he explained.
PayPal employee tests of Beacon are now taking
place or getting ready to launch at Spice Hut, a restaurant and food truck
business in Silicon Valley, Telegraphe Cafe in New York and Get York Coffee in
Sydney, Australia. EBay is also some retail employees to use the Beacon
technology, noted USA Today, but the company did not say which companies are
involved in those tests.