More and more brands are digitizing their receipts. Among the arguments put forward in favor of e-tickets, greater ease of management or even an increase in the customer base …
What is the interest for traders to digitize their receipts?
What is a digital receipt, or e-ticket?
The digitalization of receipts is a practice by which the merchant will be able to send the receipts to his customers directly on their email address or store them in the cloud via an app. The dematerialized sales receipt then takes the form of a downloadable file in PDF format.
The dematerialization of documents in general is a important stake for sustainable development, but also added value for the consumer, because this practice has many advantages.
Let's find out why the electronic receipt is revolutionizing commerce.
Benefits of the e-ticket for the customer
The digital ticket is above all convenient for the customer: no more tickets that fly and get lost, especially when they are needed the most, in the event of an exchange or refund!
It is also a big step forward in terms of management and archiving, which are greatly facilitated. You can store and classify your tickets directly in the cloud or on your computer.
The ecological aspect Consumers who are concerned about their environmental footprint should also be taken into account: no more paper, email is also much more anonymous!
Advantages of the e-ticket for traders
For the merchant, the dematerialization of receipts also has many advantages. Indeed, while the opening rate of a newsletter is weakly 5% for a shop, that of a email containing a receipt can be up to 70%. It is therefore a huge opportunity for traders to be able to communicate with their customers!
Now let's take a look at how merchants can take advantage of the digitalization of receipts.
# 1. Improve customer knowledge
In e-commerce, it is quite easy to know your customers since email is the preferred way to communicate with them. In physical stores and restaurants, however, it is a little more complex to collect information. Customers are not always ready to give their email address to receive the brand's promotions or to subscribe to the newsletter. On the other hand, they will be more inclined to give their email to receive digitized receipts. E-tickets therefore allow merchants to communicate with their customers more easily and to access new information.
# 2. Better manage returns
Dematerialized tickets allow merchants better management of returns by facilitating the exchange process, especially by email. Returns and vouchers are simplified, because the customer can find them in his mailbox or via an application. The saving of time to do the accounts is considerable both for the customer and for the merchant.
And the disadvantages?
If the advantages are clear, the disadvantages of the e-ticket are a little less so. The main difficulty that traders may encounter, especially in the case of physical stores, is that employees will have to be trained in this new practice, because the recovery of personal data is subject to regulations (not to mention the implementation of the GDPR).
In the case of a clothing store, for example, salespeople will have to ask for the customer's consent in two stages. ” Do you agree to receive your receipt by email? Do you agree to receive other promotional offers from the store? “
In the event of a question from the customer, it is necessary to be able to explain to him what the dematerialized ticket consists of and what are the advantages of receiving it.
In any case, the e-ticket is a promising advance for physical commerce, which has fewer online marketing tools than e-commerce.
