CVS is the first national retailer to offer this facility.

Customers at 8,200 locations of CVS Pharmacy across the country can now safely make contactless payments using the QR codes of PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Venmo. Announcing this on Monday, the retail chain, a division of CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), said customers need no longer touch a keypad or sign a receipt at the checkout points-of-sale at its standalone locations. (CISION PR Newswire)

Covid and contactless

Touch-free payments have become highly popular following the coronavirus pandemic. At CVS these transactions have surged 43% since January. Meanwhile, as much as 11% of Americans shifted to digital payments for the first time. Their aim: to avoid in-person shopping or physical payments.

Meanwhile, a PayPal survey found 34% of shoppers would avoid a merchant not accepting QR code-enabled payments.

PayPal does not charge any fees to a customer that pays for purchases using a PayPal or Venmo QR code.

How it works

At a CVS Pharmacy, PayPal customers can invoke touch-free payments by using these steps. Open their PayPal or Venmo mobile app, Click the Scan button, and Select the “Show to Pay” option. They can charge the amount to any of their stored debit or credit cards, bank accounts, PayPal balance, or PayPal Credit.

According to Tech Crunch, PayPal collaborated with payments technology provider InComm for the touch-free payments system.

InComm distributed the PayPal QR code technology through the cloud for use at POS in stores.

Contactless as winter approaches

“Introducing more digital options, including touch-free payments at the register, is in step with changing consumer preferences,” said Jon Roberts, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at CVS Health.

“We are thrilled that PayPal and Venmo QR codes will help to maintain the safety of CVS customers and employees, especially in the essential pharmacy retail environment as we go into the winter months,” said Jeremy Jonker, Senior Vice President Head of Consumer In-Store and Digital Commerce, PayPal.

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