Green. Everyone is talking about it now, while people have been slowly changing their ways to become more environmentally concious, big business is starting to do it too. There are many examples of companies out there striving to help give incentive for people to recycle like RecycleBank, ReUseIt bags, and countless other stores like Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter, etc. that promote the use of reusable grocery bags.
A project idea I came up with was to integrate the customer loyalty programs at grocery stores (VIC, MVP, etc.) and give customers the options of not receiving a receipt print out, but instead getting an e-mail copy of their receipt. I did a model of the potential savings for a store like Harris Teeter, taking estimations on amount of paper used, transactions at the stores, ink used, and more to help determine a cost savings for Harris Teeter (the factor that really produces change for companies). Although I can’t say for sure, I have to assume the intelligence of their VIC program could keep track of purchases for returns purposes, it must already as I get targeted weekly advertising based on my purchasing history. They already have my e-mail address, how much easier would it be to get a digital receipt rather than a piece of paper you’re just going to crumble up and throw away. You would have the flexibility of something like NeatDesk without having to purchase a desktop scanner.
I understand the concerns of not having a hard copy receipt, but if the store had the ability to look up your purchase history from an easily accessible database, I really don’t see the need for it. They could also tack on some ads to their digital receipts if they’re worried about loss of ad revenue.
I also foresee a logical integration of the VIC program where coupons become an online experience, automatically uploaded to the customers card and reducing the waste generated by paper coupons. I don’t know how this feature would benefit the stores (again, what promotes them to change), but I think it would be a useful tool for their customer loyalty program if nothing more.
Here’s an Excel breakdown of some of my estimations, as mentioned I had to research and fudge some of these numbers, but I think there’s a serious case for a new look at receipts.
Current
Average receipt length 12 inches
Roll of receipt tape 2640 inches
Cost of receipt tape roll 0.9 dollars
Receipt printer ribbon 1.92 dollars
Ribbon head print capacity 20000 receipts
Average # of receipts per roll (roll length/receipt length) 220
Average # of receipts per day (# of transactions * # of stores) 177,000
Receipt tape used per day (receipt length * # of receipts/day) 2,124,000
Receipt tape rolls used per day (receipt tape usage/length of roll) 805
# of rolls used per year (rolls used per day * 365) 293,659
Cost of rolls per year (rolls used per year * cost of roll) $264,293.18 Dollars
Average # of printer ribbons used per day (# of receipts per day/print capacity) 8.85
Average # of printer ribbons used per year (ribbons used per day * # of printers used per day) 3230.25
Cost of printer ribbons per year (# of printer ribbons per year * cost of printer ribbon) $6,202.08 Dollars
Cost of printer ribbon + rolls per year $270,495.26
# of Harris Teeter Stores Globally 177
Cost of printer ribbon + rolls per year globally $47,877,661.34
Potential savings by reducing receipt printing by 5% $2,393,883.07
# of rolls per printer ribbon 90.91
# of transactions per day per store 1000
If my estimations are anywhere close to being on track, Harris Teeter could save $2+ million across its stores by implementing a program like this. Not to mention the added benefits of good press from being “green,” saved jobs by less expenses, etc. Look forward to hearing your thoughts!
June 18, 2009 at 3:10 am
I think all of the Teeter’s register printers are primarily thermal (they can do impact printing to frank checks) so there’s no ink cost or ribbons. I’d be surprised if they actually ended up paying anything for the receipt paper given the ads.
I would suspect, though, that there’s a lot of emphasis placed in the customer contact moment when you check out and the cashier puts that hilariously big circle around your VIC savings. They’d need to be able to recreate that somehow; creative minds could probably come up with a pretty easy solution though.
However, the PR benefits would easily be worth something substantial (Harris Greener?) and frankly digital receipts are more efficient at just about everything. As a customer I would definitely choose this. This is good thinking.
June 18, 2009 at 3:13 am
Oh, and as for the coupons — Costco has gotten 50% of the way there with this. They usually send out a pamphlet of coupons every 60-90 days. When you check out, though, they just scan a single barcode and the system automatically takes off the coupon amounts for all eligible items in the order, saving the clerk from scanning each individual coupon the required number of times. So they still haven’t eliminated the waste of the paper but they’ve streamlined the checkstand experience.
It’s a great idea and there would be some real savings for HT if they went that route. They already have the VIC infrastructure for it — I wonder how they could integrate manufacturer coupons into it. Would they have to arrange something with one of their coupon clearinghouses?
June 18, 2009 at 3:14 am
Thanks for your thoughts Jon – as mentioned I don’t have much knowledge of printing technology (thermal vs. ink).
In general, I just think there’s got to be a better way to do receipts, and across an industry like grocery where there is a proliferation of receipts for every little purchase (12 inches of paper for 1 item purchase?).
I also think there’s huge potential for direct to consumer marketing packaged along with that digital receipt.
June 19, 2009 at 5:02 am
I often think of this, in fact every time I am at the store. Grocery stores are the worst. why do I need 3 receipts with coupons and other BS on them? It amazes me at the inefficiencies of some companies
July 10, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Great analysis! I hope you don’t my borrowing (and attempting to properly attribute it to you).
http://punk.posterous.com/rethinking-receipts
Pankaj
July 10, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Great analysis that you had as well. While I have the ideas, I appreciate that you have the background and thoughts of what it would look like in an XML format and what the backbone of the data could/should look like. I think there is a lot of potential for companies, it will just be a matter of which one is the first to run with the idea.
Thanks for your input, I enjoyed reading your article.
July 29, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Really nice post and analysis. I agree that receipts and store printed coupons are a waste of resources 99% of the time. From a shopper’s point of view, though, I always check my paper receipt before I leave the store to make sure the prices in line with what I expected. A few months ago, something I bought scanned in at 7.99, but I didn’t buy anything at that price point. I didn’t catch it while the cashier was scanning – I was probably still unloading my cart. I had to go to customer service to get it corrected. I don’t think I could have caught that and had it corrected if I had left the store and tried to do it after checking my emailed receipt.
Also, if I am participating in a rebate offer, many manufacturers require submission of the original receipt (plus upc code from the product, etc) to get credit.
And then there are catalina’s, which are manufacturer’s coupons that print out at the register if you have completed the terms of an offer. For instance, Kraft has an offer coming up in which if you buy $25 worth of selected products, a $5 off store coupon and $20 rebate form will print at the register. And yes, you have to send in the original receipt in order to get the rebate.
I know – long comment and it might sound like negative feedback, but I don’t mean it to be. I like your idea and just wanted to weigh in with some additional considerations.
Found you from your Outblush guest post. Nice review of Ciao Bella – we only have three flavors here. I have two $1 off two pints coupons. Want me to mail them to you?