The Role of Receipts in Developing Trust for Independent Retailers

For independent retailers, developing a brand affinity with its target audience is crucial to building a loyal customer base.

Trust plays a key role in the development of this relationship and this can be affected by a number of factors. The retailer should provide the product or service it promises, that knowledgeable and attentive staff will be on hand and that customer data will remain secure throughout a transaction.

While chip and pin systems have been critical to improving card security over the past decade, the cost of installing these systems can be major deterrent for small businesses that may not have the funds available to install them. The launch of mPOS payment systems and other resources such as Android and Apple Pay are great, however it begs the question for some customers, “how can I prove the legitimacy of my payment?”

In a world where the aim is to ultimately become paperless, printed receipts continue to provide a crucial tangible proof of transaction that can help customers feel content that a payment was processed securely. This is particularly important for smaller stores that may use a device such as a tablet or smartphone to take payments, which can look very different when compared to a traditional till or credit card terminal.

Furthermore, research from YouGov suggests that more than 80 per cent of consumers are still concerned about security when it comes to making payments using mobile or non-traditional payment systems. Providing a receipt will help eradicate these concerns, particularly for those users who may not be as tech-savvy. Receipt printers can be easily connected wirelessly to mPOS devices so that receipts can be produced instantly.

Providing a receipt may be a crucial requirement for expenses and tax purposes and can also be used to help publicise in-store promotions or marketing messages.

With increasing competition being felt across the marketplace, it’s imperative that smaller retailers look for ways to help their offering stand out from the crowd – providing a trustworthy and secure mPOS payment system is one of the most cost effective ways of achieving this. 

For more information about Able’s receipt printing solutions, take a look at our receipt printers.

Nick Lane, mPOS Development Manager at Able Systems