Having secured deals with terminal manufacturers VeriFone, Equinox and Ingenico to ensure retailers can easily offer PayPal options to shoppers, the e-commerce giant has moved to bring high street names on board.

Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Guitar Center, Jamba Juice, JC Penney, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Nine West, Office Depot, Rooms To Go, Tiger Direct and Toys "R" Us have all signed up.

This means their customers will be able to use PayPal Access cards to pay for in-store purchases, or enter a mobile phone number and PIN into the terminal.

The new partners join Home Depot, which went from a five store pilot test to a full rollout to their nearly 2000 locations in two months earlier this year.

In a blog post, David Marcus, president, PayPal, says: "With PayPal, retailers don't need to rip and replace, install NFC or conduct a massive upgrade to bring innovation to their customers. PayPal works seamlessly with a retailer's existing point of sale hardware. This simple integration allows consumers to pay quickly, easily and securely."

Separately, a new rival to PayPal Here - which turns mobile phones into card readers - could be on the horizon, with coupon outfit Groupon testing its own version, according to Bloomberg.

Citing a person with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg says Groupon has placed a reader, manufactured by Infinite Peripherals, with dozens of merchants in the San Francisco Bay area.

The company is entering a crowded market, taking on not just PayPal but also VeriFone, Intuit and Jack Dorsey's Square.