Paymentech Breaks into Small Payments with Pepsi Vending Deal

Paymentech L.P. is breaking into the market for small-value transactions with an agreement it announced today with Pepsi Cola North America to process credit and debit card payments at vending machines. Pepsi bottlers have deployed “several hundred” machines in high-traffic locations in the U.S., such as malls, hotels, and casinos, that are equipped to accept cards and wirelessly process transactions, according to Paymentech. Under the multi-year agreement, Paymentech will be the exclusive processor of these transactions. “This is a new market for us, but one that we definitely see growing in the next few years, as consumers continue to migrate away from cash to paying with plastic, even for smaller purchases,” said Scott Cruickshank, chief marketing officer at Dallas-based Paymentech, in a statement. The Pepsi vending agreement follows an announcement last week that Paymentech will allow online merchants for which it processes payments to accept PayPal transactions in addition to credit and debit card payments. Paymentech, which says it processes more than half of all Web transactions, serves both brick-and-mortar and Internet merchants. Last year, the company processed 7 billion transactions and $162 billion in card volume.