PayPal strikes deal with Chevron, allowing drivers to pay digitally at the pump

The service — set to launch in early 2019 — will allow Chevron customers to pay for gasoline and car washes with PayPal via a mobile app created by the gasoline giant, available on iPhone and Android. Terms of the deal between PayPal and Chevron, which also owns the gas stations Texaco and Caltex, were not disclosed.

Robert Clarkson, PayPal’s general manager for North America, said the two companies could launch a loyalty rewards program to incentivize gas-buyers to pay with PayPal in the future.

“It really is trying to change it from kind of a transaction out of necessity to an actual destination (to buy gas), and we’ve really been working closely with them to understand their customers and to build a loyalty program,” said Clarkson.

PayPal, one of the world’s largest online payment systems that acquired Venmo in 2015, has set out to boost its relationships with businesses, expanding its long-held core service of consumer-to-consumer payments in an effort to expand beyond e-commerce — and to compete with the rising force of Apple Pay. In April 2017, the company joined forces with Google to allow Android users to pay at stores via their PayPal balances. A year later, in April, PayPal struck a similar agreement with Samsung Pay.

PayPal, though, sees itself as a two-fold company, said Clarkson: a business-to-business model that services 19 million merchants, and a consumer-facing side that has 250 million users. 

The strategy is following the footsteps of Venmo, which did not allow merchants to use its offerings until October 2015, and the service has since set its sights on an aggressive expansion plan to court new companies.

PayPal’s deal with the San Ramon, California-based Chevron will give the company’s account holders the ability to pay at the pump digitally — as long as they download the app. The app will be available on both Android and Apple phones.

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