Did you know that statistically, almost 90% of all receipts end up being thrown away? Most of us lose or discard our receipts mere minutes, hours or at best weeks after purchase. No one is in the habit of keeping the receipt of every single product or service purchased – where would we keep them all? How on earth would we keep them neatly organised?
Despite this, receipts are still the primary form of proof of payment. Situations arise all the time when it’s imperative to have a payment record. From personal expense tracking to commercial expense reporting, rest assured you’ll need your receipts.
Failure to produce receipts can result in small or significant financial loss – something we can all do without! However, digital receipt capture offers a solution. One that retailers are embracing.
How Digital Receipts Work
Digital receipts are transforming the retail sector. Make no mistake, mainstream digital receipt adoption has arrived. Advocates of digital receipts believe that there will be a time, when OCR receipt technology will transform proof of payment – and that time is just around the corner.
At the most basic level, digital receipt capture are a Pos (point of sale) process. Upon checkout, the cashier asks the customer if they’d like a digital or print receipt or both. If the customer chooses a digital receipt, the cashier will simply enter the shopper’s email address into their system and a receipt will then be emailed to them. Data is securely stored in the retailer’s system – which can then be used to notify customers of future promotions.
Benefits to the Retail Sector
Thermal paper receipts cost the retail sector billions of dollars annually. This puts a tremendous financial strain on the sector and is a primary cause of the reduction of sector profits. Digital receipts are inexpensive drastically reducing overheads, allowing the retail sector to thrive.
By using the latest digital receipt technology, retailers can create personalised promotional campaigns that target customers individually. This has proven highly-effective in building brand loyalty. Moreover, digital receipts give retailers the opportunity to easily build email lists and gather customer data at a transactional level.
Anything else? Yes, there is. OCR receipt technology can help retailers to create more effective marketing campaigns – one’s that are focused on customer retention. Using the data gleamed from receipts, retailers can identify their best customers and the type of merchandise that they’re most likely to buy again and again.
Most customers prefer digital receipts. Why? The thermal paper of receipts is notoriously insufficient as a proof of payment method. Receipts can be easily discarded. They will also fade over time. A digital receipt gives customers clear proof of payment forever.
Dynamic content within the receipt capture program allows retailers the opportunity to deliver a compelling brand image each of their customers. Retailers can use digital receipts to showcase the sale of similar products to customers or include related items that may be of interest to customers but are only available only.
Also, digital receipts enable retailers to boost online store traffic and build social media communities. This can drive future customer interaction and help to build that vital personal relationship between retailers and their customers. Digital receipts can include links to retailer’s websites where any upcoming sales or loyalty programs are advertised. Basically, this makes it as easy as possible for customers to do what retailers want – buy!
It’s not hard to see why retailers are embracing digital receipts. When you consider the benefits, it becomes clear that it’s only a matter of time before paper receipts will be a thing of the past.
