Ask HN: Would you like to Never get a paper recept again?

[cjamerlan]

I'm beginning work on an Saas platform which businesses can integrate into the POS/App/whatever to produce a digital receipt. In its simple form, it would send a non-editable digital version (PDF) of your receipt to an email address.

Before I get deep into this, do you guys think that there is a sustainable business model around this concept? I'm looking to approach it from an eco-friendly standpoint as well, but I'm not sure if that alone can really hammer this concept home. I don't think the concept is truly novel, but I don't see many retailers embracing this model (except for Apple). I'm thinking it could be poor execution from other platforms, or perhaps there are some legal issues that I'm just not aware of.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[jdietrich]

No. Printing a paper receipt takes a second or two and is absolutely foolproof. Providing my e-mail address is slow, awkward and annoying, because retail staff can't spell my name. I have no way of checking that I've actually received a receipt during the transaction, which might cost me money if I'm unable to return the goods or make a warranty claim.

Paper receipts aren't a meaningful environmental problem. A major British supermarket recently reduced their receipt paper consumption by half, by fitting double-sided thermal printers to all of their POS terminals. The total environmental benefit amounted to less than 300 tonnes of CO2; In a business with revenues of £21bn, that amounts to no more than a rounding error.

Paper receipts are very valuable to many businesses, because they can substantially reduce shrinkage. Many catering businesses have a clearly stated policy that "If you don't get a receipt, your order is free". This makes it far harder for employees to serve a customer and pocket the money, which was historically a very expensive problem for many businesses.

Most retail businesses have a lot of money invested in their POS equipment - not just the equipment itself but also the staff training and support infrastructure. Paperless receipts offer no obvious benefit to most businesses, but the costs would be substantial - replacing their POS equipment, retraining their staff and the cost of lost sales due to the inevitable teething problems of any new system.

I don't see why any business owner would pay you money for this. They don't see anything wrong with printed receipts - they're easy to deal with, keep their employees honest and cost them virtually nothing.

[steventruong]

Square is obviously trying to tackle this with Square Register by replacing POS systems altogether which includes a slew of features they offer including paperless receipts emailed (with geolocation, etc...).

That said, I don't think that bears anything on you being able to compete but I do think trying to tackle this problem is incredibly difficult on a large scale. The other issue is some people will always want printed receipts. The question about sustainable business model is whether or not businesses see a reason to pay you for your service over what they are currently doing.

The eco-friendly pitch is one that matters to a niche group of people (even more so when you consider practitioners; personal belief). I don't have statistics to back this up but what I do believe is at the end of the day, it boils down to what advantage the business gains out of doing this. From a consumer standpoint, only subgroup will really care starting out.

[cjamerlan]

Those are points that I definitely thought about and I am trying to see if there really is a market for this. The more I see it though, as you pointed out, is that it might not be successful on a large scale (yet) but perhaps will find success in a niche market

[xijuan]

From a customer point of a view, I think it is a great idea! I think this idea would work even better in China. In China, people collect a lot of receipts so that they can get reimbursements form their work place. My family is doing it right now. We save all of receipts. One thing I find really annoying is that overtime, the ink on the receipt will faint away and then you won't be able to read anything. Also of course, there are problems like easy to get lost and no backup receipt. Your idea would save all of my problems. In fact, I really like how when I buy things online I get an electronic copy of the receipt. One suggestion would be that it will be good to have a separate email account for it so it won't spam my personal email account.

[cjamerlan]

Thanks for the feedback! I actually didn't think about international markets, where as you pointed out, there could be more potential due to certain lifestyle differences.

[brudgers]

There may be a sustainable business.

I will not use it. I don't want receipts in my inbox. I prefer to discard the useless ones at point of purchase. I file the important ones away for taxes, warranty, etc. I don't want to have to go through my email printing them out.

I get email receipts for online purchases. Those are also the companies which send me offers I don't care about once they have my email address.

I don't want to talk about my email at the cash register in the bookstore. I prefer to talk about books. If I want an electronic record, I can pay by credit card.

Now you damn kids, Get off my lawn!

[byoung2]

I think it is a great idea but difficult to implement. There are the privacy concerns, e.g. "I paid in cash to remain anonymous, so why would I give you an email address?" or "Hmmm, the credit card company used to only know the amount I paid and the store, now they can get a list of exactly what I bought". And then there are millions of cash registers out there that are not connected to the internet, and are not upgradable to add new software.

[codegeek]

I always prefer digital receipts if available. Macys, Apple etc. do this already and I am a very happy customer. Want your receipt in email ? Here you go. All done. Now if only I could integrate them with my freelance/contracting expense accounts!!

[27182818284]

Yes, Apple stores already do this as you mention. The details are really difficult, though. For example, someone returning an item but they gave an invalid email address the first time through. Etc.

[cjamerlan]

I agree, and that's part of the problem I think I'm trying to solve :)

Some of the things I'm throwing around with my buddy is possibly having an mobile app as an endpoint so that email addresses don't have to be given up at the register. However, I believe in trying keep simplicity as a priority.

[27182818284]

There is absolutely a demand for it, though. Especially with small business owners. I know a couple that have asked if something like it existed because come tax time, sorting the large number of receipts to either do yourself or hand off to someone else is difficult. Or if they choose not to do it, their tax people have charged extra for having to sort it all out. an email system would probably allow for better sorting too, I'd imagine.