Are retailers shooting themselves in
the foot?
By Mark Johnson – CEO
Receipt Reliance Pty Ltd
Every now and then, when discussing my digital receipt idea
EFRTS™ within the finance industry, the
feedback I receive is that retailers will
not be willing to disclose detailed customer purchasing information (itemised retailer/merchant
receipts) to a third party such as a bank, even though they are considered to
be a trusted partner of the business.
There may have been some foundation for this view in the
past, but I believe that has now been outweighed by the advantages to retailers
if they are willing to make receipt data available to a consumer's bank or financial institution.
In fact, whether retailers like it or not, there is a proliferation
of apps available that allow consumers to photograph, scan and receive receipts
to their smart phones via NFC or cloud, and of course don’t forget email. While
these receipt capture methods are not friction free (as we have talked about in
earlier blogs and publications)
once captured, this data can then be massaged for a whole range of marketing
applications.
There are companies already analysing customer spending
habits from data supplied by banks to formulate an advertising campaign for
potential new customers. They see customers purchasing habits via a link to
their bank issued card and then target advertisements through the customer’s
online or mobile banking app. How more effective would the retailer campaign be
if they could analyse down to line item level and focus their advertising
accordingly?
A completely frictionless concept like EFRTS™ which links
the retailer’s detailed receipt to the bank payment transaction would fit in nicely (i.e. giving a customer
access to a digital receipt on their online or mobile banking app) and
retailers would clearly have an upside through a very powerful advertising
campaign if they deployed the right digital advertising solution.
An interesting idea was presented in a recent article Using
Digital Receipts to Facilitate Loyalty Program Enrolment, where the writer
suggests joining a retailer’s customer loyalty program post purchase via a
single button click. It would utilise your bank’s ability to authenticate you, and
therefore automatically fill in the blanks on the customer loyalty application
form. If you combined this idea with storing digital receipts at your bank, how
much easier would it be for the consumer and how many more customers would join
the retailer’s loyalty program as a result?
So instead of perceiving such an idea as a threat, retailers
should embrace this new digital age and at the same time give their customers access
to a convenient digital receipt storage solution like EFRTS™ where their
receipts can be stored safely, securely and privately.
By the way, if you are reading this blog and you are a
retailer and you have an opinion about releasing receipt data to someone other
than your customers, like a bank for instance, please get in touch at: http://www.receiptreliance.com/share.html
and tell me what you think.
www.receiptreliance.com
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