PayPal pilot: In-store payments at Home Depot

Electronic-payments provider PayPal is trying out its first in-store payment system at five Home Depot stores, the Wall Street Journal reported. The system allows shoppers to buy items with their phone number and a PayPal ID number or by swiping a card tied to their PayPal account, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to Bloomberg News:

PayPal, one of the fastest-growing parts of EBay, is trying to maintain its expansion by challenging traditional payment systems. The company is developing a so-called mobile wallet, which could be stored on a consumer’s smartphone or a special PayPal card, letting shoppers pay for items at checkout.

Former PayPal president Scott Thompson, who recently left to become CEO of Yahoo Inc., said last month that moving into stores would be a focus for PayPal in 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported.

More from GlobalPost: Scott Thompson to head up Yahoo Inc.

PayPal isn’t the only Internet company encroaching on the turf of credit card companies like Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. Google Inc. recently introduced an in-store electronic-payment system called Google Wallet at the Gap Inc. and Macy's Inc. stores, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Wall Street analysts were excited by the news, Reuters reported. "We believe a full Home Depot roll out would increase PayPal's addressable market by more than 35 percent overnight," Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush, wrote in a note to investors today, according to Reuters.

“Home Depot has a significant reach,” Brian Blair, an analyst at Wedge Partners Corp. in New York, told Bloomberg News. “PayPal has been historically in online payments. Now it becomes real-world currency.”