Will Receipts Become Retro?

Tesla trials a system where instead of a paper print out, customers are given e-receipt sent to their email.

13:01 29 October 2016

Tesla might be spelling the end for paper receipts as it trials a system that provides customers with e-receipt sent to their email or a mobile phone app. The digital receipt service is being trialled at Tesco’s store in Harlow, Essex until mid-November. 

 

The retailer said that with the new system, customers would be able to keep their receipt in one place, which could make shopping trips easier. 

 

The same system was used by Apple in 2005 and Debenhams and Topshop last year, while keeping the option for a paper receipt. 

 

Does this mean that it’s the end for paper receipts? Ronan Hegarty, news editor of The Grocer magazine hardly think so. 

 

"I don't think this is the end of paper receipts," he says. "People like to see the promotions they get and the money they saved.

 

"It's all part of a continuing trend by retailers to operate more cheaply and more efficiently. But ultimately they are there to serve their customers and they're not going to force changes onto them."

 

Meanwhile, Caroline Abrahams, Age UK's charity director, says that the new system may not be appealing to older consumers who have never used the internet.