Why A Global Standard For Digital
Receipts Is Required
By
Mark Johnson (@ReceiptReliance)
In most countries
around the world, the standard practice for issuing itemised receipts is for
merchants to produce a piece of paper with detailed purchase information on it
and then give it to their customers. Simple. It can be hand written or machine
printed, basic in design or elaborate, monochrome or colour - it doesn't
matter. The procedure is the same.
These days most
people would agree that digital
receipts are the future. However, the term 'digital receipts' has become a bit
of a catch-all for many different types of solutions. This begs the question: how
do we go from paper to digital without turning a relatively simple process into
a complicated one for consumers and merchants?
Well,
agreement on a standard would be very useful.
I'm not
suggesting uniformity with regard to the appearance of receipts; I think
control of that should be left to each individual merchant. Many will be keen
to reinforce their brand via consistent visuals.
Rather, I'm
talking about a standard in relation to what we do with digital receipts when
they are created, and where we store them.
For some
time now I've been promoting a solution whereby a digital receipt is created at
the point of sale, it is linked to the associated payment transaction, and then
made available to consumers via their online or mobile banking applications.
This TechCrunch article provides more detail. Connecting the
payment transaction and the itemised receipt at the point of sale makes sense for many valuable reasons.
Remember,
· the
payment transaction records the total cost for a purchase; the merchant receipt
records the list of items that comprise that purchase. Two sides of the same
coin.
· both
are generated at the time of sale, but then they are separated; the payment
transaction is sent to our bank while the merchant receipt is given to the
customer, who may then need to reconcile them again for expense claims or tax
purposes. Matching them up can be an onerous task and not without error, and it
does make you wonder why they are still being separated in the first place.
While
consumers have control over where they choose to store their paper receipts, or
photos thereof, they don't always have that luxury with the digital version. Mostly,
they are at the mercy of whatever solution merchants choose, so that could mean
their email inbox, a cloud account (per merchant), or perhaps their smart
phone. If it's their phone, that could mean a specific digital wallet, any
number of merchant or receipt apps, or maybe a sms.
Given the
variety of locations they might be sent to, finding and/or consolidating digital
receipts could become quite a task for consumers. Replacing one, simple,
practice with a multitude of different ones adds complexity to receipt
management. It is not going to make our lives easier, which is one of the main aims,
isn't it?
If we had a global
standard for digital receipts there would be consistency across the shopping
experience for consumers. We could make a non-cash payment for a purchase
almost anywhere in the world and have full confidence that an original, authentic,
intact digital receipt from the merchant, will be available to us via our online
or mobile banking applications.
A standard would
level the playing field for merchants. In my experience most are very
interested in offering digital receipts to their customers, but are hesitant to
dive in just yet. Some reasons for this include concerns not only about cost,
data security, and customer privacy, but also product selection; they're unsure
which one will serve them best in the long run. We were met with keen interest
and received some great feedback when describing a 'point of sale to customer
bank' solution. In addition to acknowledging many advantages for themselves,
most said that they think their customers would love it.
With the onset
of Open Banking , we are seeing a lot of innovative development taking place, some
of which is focussed on applications that will provide consumers with an aggregated
view of their finances. Dashboards displaying accounts and transactions from
different banks on the one screen are giving consumers a much better picture of
what's happening with their money. Imagine then, if it were standard to have
receipts attached to transactions; the receipt could be sourced at the same
time a transaction is pulled in - easy! Currently the ability to do this is
somewhat hampered due to the myriad of receipt storage locations, some
accessible and others not so much.
A recent article from Acuity featuring discussions with Chris Jordan FCA, Commissioner of the Australian Tax Office, provided a
look at how the ATO has been travelling over the past few years, and what areas
of innovation it might cross paths with going forward.
From the
article - "Jordan has always spoken
enthusiastically about technology’s potential to ease small business
interactions with the ATO." saying that it will inevitably lead
to "a future where more
businesses can tie their accounts directly into ATO systems."
It would
certainly be convenient if it were standard to connect receipts to
transactions.
Chris Jordan
goes on to say, “If we can tap into natural systems
so that small businesses can comply with their obligations without doing anything
special, that’s a great outcome.”.
A digital
receipt standard could be backed by regulation to ensure compliance and quality
control. In my view, such regulation should have a primary focus on the
following:
·
Privacy of the consumer - based on an acceptance that the receipt
data is owned by the consumer and can be shared or utilised as they see fit.
·
Integrity of the data - must be assured from
the point of creation through to transport and then storage.
·
Electronic payment system policy - regarding payment system participants' provision for
and handling of receipt information, when payment system infrastructure is
being utilized.
To assist the
adoption of a standard, I think it's important to keep the approach as simple
as possible and to stay focused on the core proposition of simply delivering
digital receipts to consumers. It's easy to get distracted with value adds
which can introduce unnecessary complexity and might even end up having the
opposite effect to what was intended. Our informal discussions with merchants provided
useful insight backing this up. For example, incorporating loyalty features as
part of the minimum package can in some cases be a deterrent; some already have
successful programs in place while others are just not interested, preferring to
encourage customer loyalty through keen pricing policies.
In order to
shine through and become a global standard for digital receipts, the successful
solution will have the following attributes:
·
Consumer
-first approach
·
Seamless
in operation
·
Privacy
of the consumer ensured
·
Convenient
access from consumer
standpoint
·
Integrity and security of the data ensured
·
Reliability
·
Payment
method/device agnostic.
Natural
selection has begun for digital receipts with many early solutions giving way
to those more popular in the marketplace. Some factors contributing to their
lack of success might include the requirement for consumers to share personal
information, added friction at the checkout, additional cost to merchants, or perhaps
because the solution was device specific. Whatever the reason, surviving
solutions continue to evolve and new ones continue to arrive.
I think it's
only a matter of time before we start to see the emergence of a standard and
it's interesting to note a shift in direction towards financial institution
involvement. The past few years have seen ongoing efforts by banks and ADIs to
provide enhanced transaction detail to their customers, and for purchase
transactions, there is really no better source of detail than the itemised
receipt.
A digital
receipt standard will have far reaching benefits for all of us. As technology
improves, so too does the opportunity for stakeholders in the banking, payment
and retail space to further engage with one another to accelerate this natural evolution.
We welcome your feedback, suggestions,
comments and/or support.