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Retailers may be starting a new trend: e-mailing receipts instead of printing them, according to an USA Today article titled “Retailers Ditch Paper and Pen, Use E-mail for Receipts”by Brittany Shammas.
According to Shammas, retailers such as Gap and Nordstrom began offering paperless receipts several months ago.
Shammas reports retailers believe it is a convenient and environmentally-friendly option. They say consumers won’t have to dig through their purses and wallets looking for a receipt. It will be easily and readily accessible via e-mail if needed.
A downfall is many people view it as a ploy to get your information and e-mail address so they can market to you.
“‘It’s a subtle way of saying, ‘How can I invade your personal life but not offend you at the same time?’ I’ve got to give them credit — it’s a pretty ingenious act,” said Britt Beemer, a retail analyst and founder of America’s Research Group (USA Today Article).”
John Talbot, assistant director of Indiana University’s Center for Education and Research in Retailing understands customers’ concerns about spam. However, he said if retailers are serious about building relationships with its customers, it wouldn’t take advantage of their e-mail addresses.
I assume if you need to return an item, you simply print the receipt and take it in the store with you. However, to me that sort of defeats the purpose of being environmentally-friendly. Even though most people don’t return items that often, the paper size would equal out. How many receipts do you think make up one single 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper. Receipts usually aren’t very big, so it seems there would be a lot of wasted paper unless the return could be done electronically as well?
Another concern is if all stores convert to paperless receipts, my e-mail will be inundated with receipts. This could be great for tax purposes because it would make it easy to sort the receipts into folders. However, I already receive a ton of e-mails. I would almost have to make a separate e-mail address for receipts only because I’m afraid if every purchase I made was sent to me via e-mail that my e-mail would overload.
In an article by theHuffington Post titled “Retailers Go Green: Ditching Paper and E-mailing Receipts,” A Nordstrom spokesperson told the Boston Herald that in five years, 60 percent of retailers will go paperless.
What do you think? Do you believe receipts via e-mail will eventually replace paper receipts? Do you prefer receipts via e-mail or in-store?
Related articles
- Retailers ditch paper and pen, use email for receipts (usatoday.com)
- Retailers Go Green: Ditching Paper And Emailing Receipts(huffingtonpost.com)
