Each day under Covid-19 restrictions, the retail world uncovers new gaps in brick and mortar retail and traditional business practices.

As businesses try to pivot their operations to abide by social distance expectations, contactless technologies are at the forefront of many discussions. The use of chip-based payment cards and cash is diminishing as consumers become more aware of the harmful bacteria and viruses they carry. Although many merchants offer tap technology to align with customer expectations, few are delivering digital receipts—a bit counterproductive, don’t you think?

Loop’s Digital Receipting Platform

To truly offer a safe experience, retailers need to transform their business to reduce the manual exchange of all physical documents—including receipts. Today, Loop Insights released an advanced digital receipt platform that modernizes proofs of purchase. With a simple tap of a user’s device, it can read a customer’s profile and automatically deliver a receipt according to their preferences.

It couldn’t have been at a more relevant time. Even prior to Covid-19,  initiatives like the #SkiptheSlip campaign were making noise to reduce the use of paper receipts. In California last year, the State Assembly voted to approve the Skip the Slip legislation, which requires businesses to provide paper receipts only upon request; two years after implementation, businesses must offer a choice between no receipt, an e-receipt or a paper one. 

Unfortunately, California’s campaign was not successfully executed because the solutions available at that time were expensive and difficult to build into current legacy systems. Loop acknowledges the importance of a frictionless integration process and offers a simple plug-and-play device. 

#SkiptheSlip or #KeeptheReceipt?

5 Reasons Why Digital Receipting Benefits Your Business

1. Addresses concerns over sanitary payment methods by eliminating shopper/merchant exchange of documents.
   
2. Decreases our exposure to BPS and BPA, a chemical found in thermal paper receipts that is believed to contribute to developmental, reproductive and neurological problems.
3. Reduces spend on paper products: A 2019 European study on digital receipting estimates B2B savings across industries in Belgium to be approximately 2 billion euros per year. In the B2C domain (such as retail), it quantifies potential savings in Finland at approximately 800 million euros.
4. Digitizes transaction history; and therefore, allows it to be trackable. Customers and retailers no longer have to deal with lost receipts for returns, warranties, etc.
5. Aligns with global environmental movements to reduce paper production. US receipt production alone consumes millions of trees and billions of gallons of water, generating large amounts of waste and emitting greenhouse gases.

*Did you know that American chain CVS receipts produce 2.5 million pounds of waste each year and aren’t recyclable? Click the image below to tell CVS to skip the slip and be a leader on this issue for other companies to follow:

What if Your Receipts Could Make Your Business Money?

Loop understands that retailers will be coming out of Covid-19 looking for revenue-generating tools to recover losses. In addition to being contactless and green, Loop’s digital receipting platform creates new-line revenue opportunities. The platform triggers promotions alongside the digital receipt, which are relevant and tailored to each shopper—driving more sales. Its artificial intelligence capabilities can track the redemptions, which give brands the insights they need to retarget effectively, and retailers new revenue streams through third-party programmatic advertising.