Digital receipts are going mainstream, fueled by stakeholder benefits that span from the consumer to the front office.

Transcription

1 Digital receipts are going mainstream, fueled by stakeholder benefits that span from the consumer to the front office. December 2012

2 Executive Overview A while back, even before Apple Stores pushed to make digital receipts standard fare in 2005, a handful of startups rode the sustainability wave in an effort to convert retailers and consumers from paper receipts to digital. Those companies intentions were rooted in altruism, but they were a bit ahead of their time. Smartphones had yet to gain their current ubiquity. Few retailers were investing in consumer-facing mobile applications. And, as retailers fell prey to a long-sputtering economy, going green became even less important than jumping into integration-intensive point solutions that offered little real-world proof of return on investment. Digital Receipts: The Green Factor In environmental sustainability terms, there is much merit in the digital receipt concept. According to nowdefunct alletronic, one of the lead proponents of digital receipts back in the day and perhaps the most notable startup that suffered its position on the bleeding-edge, the role of the paper receipt in our consumerist society has a devastating impact on the environment indeed. The company s research illustrated the toll: In the U.S. alone, retailers consume 640,000 tons of thermal receipt paper per year, requiring 9.6 million trees for their manufacture. It takes approximately 390 gallons of oil to produce a single ton of paper. At 640,000 tons of thermal receipt paper demanded per year, that's nearly 250 million gallons of oil, enough to produce almost 16 million gallons of gas. Fast-forward to 2012, and the future of digital receipts is no longer uncertain. The cost savings they enable has been proven, mobile application development is at a fever pitch driven by smartphone adoption and consumer demand, and the software required to enable digital receipt delivery is increasingly offered out of the box by POS software providers. Retailers are also realizing the CRM benefits of shoppers address capture as a result of consumer interest in digital receipts. In this paper, we ll discuss the benefits of giving consumers the option to receive digital receipts in more detail. We ll also offer some best practices for your digital receipt program rollout. Digital receipts can be customized in a manner that encourages customers to visit your stores and engage with your Web site. The amount of CO2 emitted by producing one ton of receipt paper is equivalent to the amount of exhaust a car emits while driving for an entire year. It takes more than 19,000 gallons of water to produce a single ton of paper. This equates to more than 1.2 billion gallons of water used during the receipt paper production process. Approximately 2,278 pounds of trash is produced while producing a single ton of receipt paper. This means nearly 1.5 billion pounds of trash are being fed into landfills at the hands of receipt paper manufacturing. Clearly, there are far-reaching environmental sustainability benefits in moving toward the elimination of paper receipts. Today, thanks to the convergence of consumer demand for less clutter, mainstream adoption of mobile devices, and seamless digital/paper receipt workflows, there s significant business benefit to digital receipts, too.

3 At the checkout, the associate is prompted to inquire as to the customer s receipt format preference. Digital receipts enable a quick and easy means of customer address acquisition. In fact, acquisition for list growth is the primary motivator for 83% of the nearly 4,000 retailers who participated in the Epsilon survey. marketing is a proven sales driver; Q research from Harris Interactive found that 97% of Americans receive s from retailers, and more than eight in ten U.S. adults who receive those e- mails open them. While that reality makes acquisition a prime directive, asking consumers for their address at the point of sale without incentive to the consumer can come off as presumptuous or obtuse. Providing consumers with a digital receipt offering in person and/or via the signature capture device is an effective means of providing the immediate incentive they need to share that personal information, which is necessary for digital receipt delivery. Green Receipts Go Mainstream Back in 2005, when those green receipt startups made their initial foray into the promotion of an all-digital transaction log, alletronic pegged U.S. retailers annual thermal receipt paper consumption at 500,000 tons, and that volume was expected to grow at 3% per year. While fluctuations in paper costs are common, these figures point to roughly $4 billion in thermal paper expenses across the retail industry. Factor in the initial and maintenance expenses of the printers themselves and the energy required to run them, and you begin to see an operating expense line that any financial professional would be pleased to reduce. Cost reduction is a leading factor in the adoption of green receipt technology. According to recent research from Epsilon, 35% of retailers are currently offering digital receipts, led by such household name brands as Best Buy, Gap, Macy s, Nordstrom, and Sears/Kmart. But reducing overhead isn t the only goal. The business benefits of digital receipts work handin-hand with retailers desire to get closer to the consumer, and to connect the consumer s experience across physical and digital channels. That incentive is rooted in the second most-cited motivation for retailers adoption of digital receipts: customer centricity. Consumers expect a pleasant and convenient experience in retail stores, but forcing unwieldy paper receipts on them can work against your efforts to create that experience. On the other hand, forcing digitized receipts on consumers who prefer paper can do the same. Because receipt digitization is not costly for retailers and no longer requires a complex integration project, it pays to demonstrate your dedication to consumer centricity by heeding the shopper s receipt delivery preferences. The Celerant Command Retail software solution includes a digital receipt module that enables the customer to choose her receipt delivery preference. When the module is engaged, the cashier is prompted to ask the customer upon completion of a transaction if she d prefer a digital receipt, a print receipt, or both. If the shopper chooses to receive a digital receipt, the cashier simply enters the customer s address and the system delivers the receipt to her inbox. The cashier can also ask the customer if she prefers to always receive her receipts via , and with a single click that action is automated upon completion of every sale. The cashier is also flagged to

4 ask the customer if she would like to receive notification of sales and promotions via the given address, creating a quick and seamless means of building the retailer s marketing database. Branding, Security Benefits Of Green Receipts In recent years, many retailers have leveraged paper receipts as a branding mechanism and for the delivery of special According to recent research from Epsilon, 35% of retailers are currently offering digital receipts, led by such household name brands as Best Buy, Gap, Macy s, Nordstrom, and Sears/Kmart. acquisition for list growth is the primary motivator for 83% of the nearly 4,000 retailers who participated in the Epsilon survey. NRF research that suggests digital receipts will be adopted and offered by 60% of retailers by offers, promotions, loyalty program and event messaging, adding peripheral value to the proof of transaction. These can all be delivered in digital format too. As is the case with paper receipts, the promotional content you include in digital receipt format should reflect and complement the consumer s purchase. For integrated cross-channel retailers, the digitization of these efforts can lead to an improvement in the immediacy of response to the said promotion; when the promotion is digital, the consumer is only a click away from your e-commerce site. Offering physical store sales receipts via is yet another step toward developing a truly omnichannel brand presence. What s more, marketing is far easier and more efficient to test and track than paper-based promotions. Digital receipts are also much harder to counterfeit or otherwise manipulate than their print counterparts. Because they re linked directly to the transaction in the POS system, retailers can expect better protection from creative means of return fraud, a more fluid, faster returns processing workflow, and more immediate posting of and visibility into returned inventory. Early adoption of new technologies that displace traditional ways of doing business is dangerous business; get it right, and you create a customer convenience that results in enthusiasm, loyalty, and competitive differentiation. Jump in too soon, and you risk alienation of customers by moving too far away from the mainstream. The good news about digital receipts is that we re now beyond the peril of being on the bleeding edge. The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), a division of NRF, has developed a standard for digital receipts, as a result of NRF research that suggests they ll be adopted and offered by 60% of retailers by Consumers are clearly embracing the convenience of digital receipt storage and management, and retailers stand to reap the benefits of increased efficiency, security, cost savings, cross-channel integration, and perhaps most importantly, list acquisition. Visit or contact your Celerant representative today to learn more about the crosschannel benefits of implementing a digital receipt program in your stores.

5 About Celerant Celerant Technology is a privately held Corporation, providing high quality, advanced retail management software systems to retail organizations. Celerant CEO, Ian Goldman, comes from a retail management software background and founded Celerant Technology to build an entirely new type of retail system from the ground-up. The software that resulted uses Java technology to solve data integration issues with an all-inone system, seamlessly integrating all areas of retail, in real-time. Celerant Technology is atypical when it comes to comparing it to other enterprise-solution companies. Our approach is more individually focused rather than mass-produced. In addition to traditional planning, implementation, training and support services, Celerant provides a range of customized services designed to serve the more complex retail enterprises. These services include custom development, integration with ERP and legacy systems, and integration with alternative points of presence. Celerant Technology's headquarters are located in Staten Island, New York with satellite offices in Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, Colorado and Rhode Island. Our real-time management system, Celerant Command Retail, integrates all channels of a multichannel retail enterprise, including POS, warehouse, inventory management, sales back office, datamining, open-to-buy, mobile applications, mail order/catalog and e-commerce. Celerant s custom, sophisticated websites expertly manage and market inventory, directly from your Command Retail system, eliminating the need to re-enter data, including product descriptions, customer information and online orders. Celerant s flexible catalog/mail order module, also built within the system, allows you offer multiple catalogs simultaneously and track the different codes, along with varying price levels. Our advantage is the flexibility of our Java platform and the tight integration, allowing retailers to manage all channels of their business with one, scalable, realtime system. Our Mission Celerant Technology promotes business growth and efficiency through innovation and technology. We understand the unique challenges and demands retailers face each day. As a result, our in-house programming team has created an advanced retail management system which exceeds these needs. The fact that our software is developed in-house, allows us to specifically focus on each individual retail business. Our extensive, customizable software provides retailers with sophisticated tools to manage every area of their business operation as efficiently as possible. Contact Us Celerant Technology 4830 Arthur Kill Road Staten Island, New York Phone: Phone: Fax: Copyright 2012, Celerant Technology Corp. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission.celerant Technology Corporation is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek CA.