QR codes used by PayPal in new window shopping service

The mobile commerce and payments options from the company have undergone another expansion.

PayPal has just announced their latest launch with QR codes that are designed to help the company to take on brick and mortar shops on an international level, through its latest “Shop and Pay on the Go” service.

This new program will be rolling out for the first time in the Netherlands, and broadening from there.

The service has been nicknamed “window shopping 2.0”, and uses QR codes that customers can scan using their smartphones. The quick response barcodes are displayed on billboards, posters, and shop windows. Consumers can browse for products, and purchase them instantly by paying for them through their smartphones and their PayPal accounts.

PayPal is hoping retailers will see the opportunity QR codes present while the stores are closed.

They believe that this could take retailers a long way in allowing them to continue to generate sales overnight and during the hours that the shops are locked up.

The PayPal QR codes were already tested out in February in a busy subway station in Singapore. Now, they have also entered into the popular shopping district in Amsterdam, called D9 Streetjes (The Nine Streets). There, consumers can use the PayPal app on their iPhones to scan the barcodes that will be displayed in a number of restaurants, shops, museums, hotels, and art and culture stores.

This new service has been compared to the “Local” feature that is already being offered through PayPal’s application. It suggests a list of the restaurants, retailers, and other local services that accept mobile payments through “PayPal Here”. That service allows them to shop at a participating store and pay for their items using their smartphones instead of credit cards or cash.

The concept using the QR codes is comparable, except that the payments are made on products that are seen in store windows and that will then be shipped to the consumer, as opposed to using the device to make mobile payments at a point of sale. Mobile commerce is becoming increasingly important, and this new service helps to target that channel, and on a highly local scale.