Ideas

A good idea. I use a VISA check card and lose receipts all the time and it makes balancing the check book difficult. Now if the receipt could be emailed to me - that would be cool.

Emailed receipts. Great idea. I still can't believe this isn't being done. Maybe we could do it. Thanks for the comment.

The marketers would certainly love this. The customer for this product needs to be the store accounting system, probably not the point-of-sale terminal or credit card company since they're not equipped to handle this data.

The store accounting system is already collecting this data and, in the case of loyalty cards, indexing by user. Offering emailed receipts would seem like a great feature for the customer but mainly it's allowing the store to put a real person on that collection of marketing data.

Still, what's the entrepeneurial or crowdsourcing opportunity? You're unlikely to succeed by producing a new back-end system with this feature as your differentiator. Maybe you could sell the idea to existing vendors, but I don't see how you could compete with them without developing a whole system from the ground up.

The idea is to have the data centralized in one location and made available online. There would be one card that a consumer could use for any merchant. The trick is to find a way to get the information processed at the point of sale, we would need to get the information from the accounting systems to our database for sorting, printing, retrieval, or emailing by the consumer. Getting the information may prove to be difficult but then again there may be a standard (that I am not aware of) that may send this information like a simple csv.

Entrepreneurial opportunity? Sell it to every merchant-probably a small monthly fee based on useage. Also, sell the data collected as far as buying habits and products purchased.

Crowdsourcing? This would be a huge undertaking so therefore we would need a huge crowd.

Thanks for the comment.

I think this would take a lot of infrastructure, and would be hard to get good coverage. I'm not sure people would be willing to have only a small number of receipts available. I think an essential tie in to help with would be a partnership with a receipt-scanner company. Then, if the company in question supports the receipt-id card or whatever identifier you are using, they don't get a paper receipt. But if they don't, they can scan the receipt using a receipt scanner or a cellphone, and have it automatically added to their online repository.

Another tie in might be some simple budget software, and an export system that is compatible with quicken and other account software.

Getting the information form POS to the database is the hard part. After that its all gravy. You make some good points. Thanks for the comment.

interviewables: "Getting the information form POS to the database is the hard part."

That's exactly right, and that's the only reason I questioned the entrepreneurial and crowdsourcing aspects. Either you need to partner with a company that's already handling the stores' back-end data, in which case you're doing little more than selling your idea to them, or you need to build complete competing systems.

Shop at apple, your receipt is in your inbox before your CC in in your wallet.

I named this a Ceipt on another site

I like the idea, but implementation poses some challenges.

I think, though, the only good way to do it would be to create partnerships with POS manufacturers. It could either be done by licensing software for the POS terminals and/or selling add-on appliances (this would be the revenue). As for moving the "e-receipts" to the users (by email or via a web site or better yet both) very few businesses these days operate without some sort of internet connectivity.

As I said above, there are engineering challenges here, but nothing that could not be overcome.

It would certainly help me around tax time.

I think that indeed you can not do this as a small intrepreneur. Everybody would have to cooperate and then there is a security isue, everbody can read your e-mail and see what you buy:
Ah: you just bought some silverware, maybe we pay you a visit...

I don't see security as a problem. Yes it's an issue, but all the security/privacy issues are solved daily by every ecommerce and banking site.

Re-thinking this especially based on Surt's comments, I think it would be possible to build an add-on for the store's accounting system that didn't require direct partnership with that software's vendor. Most systems provide at least some interconnect with other systems. I'd be very surprised if the store-side of the POS/accounting software didn't provide at least some database connectivity (e.g. ODBC or similar). This would allow you to read the data they were storing and add your own as needed.

Finishing that thought...

I think the next step (from a technical standpoint) would be to identify two or three vendors of these systems that had significant market share and see if the assumption that they provide some sort of interface is true. If so, and if you can get a test system, it should be simple to mock up a prototype that would allow the business side of the project to start marketing or seek funding.

I've been doing some research and the best way to accomplish this is to add a software program to the credit card processing terminals.

For instance, companies that want to start a loyalty card program or offer gift cards don't get extra equipment, they get an addon to thier CC processing terminals.

I could see being able to retail these cards for .99 cents or so and then giving the software to the merchants. If you start with a program for the top 3 selling POS machines we could get a majority of the merchants covered.

Just found several big players and they offer Developer toolkits. They actually want programs written to do this sort of thing. So, we now have another option, build the software for sale to the POS companies themselves.

Further research. Seems programming these terminals is pretty straight forward. One reason why this idea may not have been done is the fact that each merchant(and there are hundreds of thousands) would have to have a way to store the receipt information in a database and then have a web interface for each person to go to and retrieve that information.

If we build the site and the back end to store and serve the info then the pos companies and their developers (or ours) could easily build the software to get the information to us. Quite an undertaking to secure and store this information (no credit card information needed).

So i guess what I'm saying is that if we build it they will come.

Great to see you doing so much research on this! It's looking like you've got a really good grasp on the potential market.

Laura its huge. i just couldn't figure out why no one has done this and now I know. There are so many different merchants who use different types of POS machines and software. However, there are only a few big players in the POS market and they really haven't had a way to bring this to the merchants. They would have to tell each merchant that yes they can do paperless receipts but the merchant would have to store the info and then provide a way for the customer to retrieve it. Too much trouble. That's where we come in. If we provide the storage and interface then all that is needed is for the merchants to get the software installed. They can cover the costs by selling the receipt cards (One standard unbranded card for all merchants) to the customers who want this convenience. It would be set up as an impulse buy. I mean who would ever thought that gift cards and prepaid phone and credit cards would be so huge?

So a typical transaction would go like this. You go to a store and purchase a card for say 99 cents. Go home, sign up online. Now when you go to make another purchase instead of getting a paper receipt you swipe your card at the credit card terminal and your receipt is stored online. Its convenient, you don't have a pocket full of receipts, the store saves money on receipts, the environmentalist are happy that less trees are being cut down, and the world is a better place.

that would be good ya but then it would be easier for someone to hack into it and take all your purchasing info

Sufficient security mechanisms could be used to prevent "hacking". I do this sort of stuff every day and would be happy to get on board this project.

Excellent idea. Every tax season I am struggling to find the receipts for deductions. I would also love user defined ways to slice and dice the data online so we can be better organized to submit them for deductions. It could be predefined categories but it would be really cool to somehow find a way for the user to tag the transaction as "something" so it is easier to find them online later.

Welcome aboard Surt! If you go to Veriphone's website you can get a developer's kit I believe. Take a look and make some recommendations.
They also have developer's forums and all that jazz. I think this could be pretty easy programming. Also, veriphone is looking for applications like this so maybe it will be smooth sailing.

Anyone want to volunteer to get a frontend website and backend database started? We can push this on through this round. Start it as a business and go from there. I'm willing to split up the company with some early adopters.

Yes Carpe that would be great. It would also be cool (and pretty easy) to alert you when something you buy has a recall or maybe even a mail-in rebate, or even coupons from the company that you can print and use. There are so many ways to make money with this deal. Come on board, there will be plenty to do!

Getting even one POS vendor to integrate something to export "their" data to an external application is a tough call.
Their idea of a development kit is to add value to their product, without releasing any of that data to the outside world. (other than summary reports)

please also consider the sheer volume of transaction data, if you intend to implement in an supermarket type environment.

Also this needs to be funded by a marketing organization or promoter. Neither the shops nor customer will pay what it costs to run.

Gzep, First of all its not "their" data, it belongs to the merchants and customers. Second, the vendors that sell the software and hardware want value added software even if they sell it for us. What our company will provide is the frontend website and backend database to house the info. It will be huge no doubt. As for funding, the pos vendors will probably purchase the software from us if they have the front and back end to handle the transactions.

Do you honestly think in this day and age that we will always have paper receipts? Everything possible is going paperless.

Well, the data is quite small actually. Since, it is mostly text data.

Receipts make a lot of sense for the most part. Hard copy of data, easy to check if there is security problems at the door, easy for customer to check at time of purchase to verify everything is right, no additional systems required by the customer.

Why should I want to give out my email address to all of these company's? What if the customers don't have email or online access?

Kevin, If a customer such as Walmart would like to check a receipt, the customer would simply scan the card again at a terminal at the door, same thing for customers that want to make sure everything is right. They already have those terminals on the walls that allow you to check prices by scanning the item.

Next, it was mentioned by someone on this tread about having receipts emailed but no company but ours would have access to emails and then only if the customer gave it to us.

As far as what if customers don't have online access, well they could still get a receipt. I never advocated getting rid of them totally at first, that's not going to happen.

Please remember that eventually America will have to give up the VHS tape and move on to DVD. I know it will be an uphill battle since we've always had VHS and they stack nicely and we really like watching movies rewind in fast motion. But its time to start thinking ahead. Oh and by your line of thinking, HD TV manufacturers will need to stop producing because not everyone can get HD signal...but its not gonna happen.

Interviewables is right about there being gazillions of different POS terminals and software. It seems to me that the networks to use for this are the credit card networks if one can work out a deal with them.

In canada, most credit card terminals are owned and run by a third party service called Moneris. They hook into the Visa and Mastercard networks for all credit card purchases. These networks already collect all purchases for their respective credit cards. What if they modified their system to collect all purchase information using the card purchased as mentioned earlier. This uses technology already in place.

That may be an insurmountable chalenge. Who knows

Thanks for the comment Tidewater,

This idea is no different than a restaurant that decides they want to start offering gift cards. They don't go to the POS manufacturers or the credit card companies. They find a company that has the software that is installed on their pos terminal that accepts their gift cards. This company has written a custom program that interfaces with the pos terminal to take gift cards. (However, Some POS manufacturers and sellers have their own Gift card and loyalty card programs in place, but follow along) We need to get with them and either hire someone to write our custom program to sell to them or either do it ourselves.

Our service will really be to them once we build the front and back ends.

In the systems I've dealt with (a very limited sample), the credit card terminals only dealt with the payment phase and only had data on the transaction total, not the line item details of the sale. You'd have to make sure you're hooking into the system at a point where all the product data is available, not further down the chain where only total payment is being handled.

From what I have seen, the same companies that sell the pos terminals also sell the printers that print the receipts, so the data is getting from the terminal to the receipt printer. We just need to hijack the data from pos to the printer, that would be all we would need.

I like this, and I like the idea to coordinate with the credit card companies. They do itemize most credit purchases.

There is no need to email individual receipts, as they can (and are with credit) aggragated online, and one can elect monthly statements.

Consumers will be giving up and/or risking some privacy, while making themselves marketing targets. I am interested in an extension that will give them some value in return for the 99 cents proposed above: Namely, database purchases and enable consumer shopping of the lowest prices in their respective area. Supermarkets are probably the most technically challenging entity, but that is my specific target. See "mygrocerydeals.com" for a weak attempt at this idea (it doesn't work and is not progressing). Supermarkets don't really cooperate with the mgd group, but the credit companies might be different. The little farmers markets sometimes don't identify the purchase items on the receipt next to the price. This is where consumer scanning and tagging functions will really help. Is 99 cents the right price for this? I don't know, but it would help the most people, if they could buy into user ownership of the bussiness somehow.

I agree with Summer this is similar idea to mine indeed, only focusing on the retailers benefit and suddenly people do not mind about their privacy.

The system I propose considers growth in technological ability and awareness of the users (and intuitively solved interfaces of hand-helds).

In the end all you need to do is save data into purchaser's device (so links to purchased products is "call-back-sms"/bluetooth v-card/wi-fi -ed to the customer.

Summetime, all of that could be done in the future. I think for now we should concentrate on paperless receipts. As for security issues, no one would have access to the information except us and the consumer. Its about making things easier for them.

As to marketing, If this system were in place and the data showed that my wife purchases Brand A shampoo every month, I would appreciate a coupon every month for that particular brand. Also, if I purchase a new TV, I would appreciate a note that let me know that there is a $250 rebate available, or if I buy a car seat and there is a recall, i would appreciate that also. Its about permission marketing. Each consumer could opt in for this information.

We could give the cards away or sell them to businesses to give away. But I think that by purchasing the card for that nominal amount will let the customer feel as if they are getting a really great deal with the amount of information they will be given.

Thanks for the comments.

So all you saying is they should have a loyalty card (club) and share information on discounts?

Nice idea - usually by the end of the week all my pockets and my bags have random receipts everywhere. And when I go to balance my checkbook I inevitably have lost one or two. This would be nice to have it all in one location and paper free.

No Wiz4rd, that can be a great byproduct of collecting the receipt information electronically. The intent is to have a card (looks like a loyalty card) that is scanned at checkout (like a loyalty card) and your receipt information is stored on a database that you can access online. Now, since the receipt information contains UPC codes, it would be simple to match the UPC with a database of recalls and rebates, and then send the information to the customer (if they so choose). Also, the money maker for us can be the fact that Gillette can now send coupons to people who actually have bought their products or another razor manufacturer can send coupons to Gillette's users. This is a simple concept and shouldn't be over=thought too much.

I just went to the grocery store and the printer ran out of paper. I guarantee this has happened to everyone several times. Had this idea been in place I simply would have scanned my receipt card and left.

I agree its a great idea, but how do you plan to implement this ? It's just an idea that you can get funding on and be up and running. Even if you could find millions of dollars from investors, you would still need to get many, if not all retailers to get involved, as well as the credit card companies.

What plan of action do you have to build this up ?

First off we will need to get a programmer/programmers to start developing the software. I would say choose the main player to begin with, develop the software for their machines, get a database and frontend website working, and go from there. I would say we also approach it from the retailer end and try to get several big players onboard. Once we can get 10% interested the rest should follow.

Also remember that the cards we will hold will be the database and front end website holding this information. That is what the company will be about. Someone else can and will build the software for other POS manufacturers and the retailers themselves. All we need to do is to get the ball rolling by showing that it can be done and then let others take over. Our money will come from POS manufacturers who want their systems tying into our website. We need to be the first because people will not want to go to 2300 different websites just to see a receipt. There needs to be one place to go and that will be us.

Hi,

I like this idea, and feel that it can be implemented quite quickly, very profitably and cheaply, and by using 90% "off the shelf" technology most of which has been used successfully for more than 10 years, that I am aware of in Europe.

The only missing element appears to be an accounting package which meets local Tax compliance standards.

I am assuming that the focus of this project is in producing and assembling, accounting receipts which are to be used for Tax compliance purposes' ?

I shall use "ACME" Oil for demonstration purposes'.

ACME Oil, has a few thousand Petrol Stations, and wants to increase its market share. It decides to develop a product which shall be attractive to
Trucking Companies and Mobile Sales Reps.

1. It decides to issue its own LOGO Credit/Debit Card.

2. It does a deal with a medium size Local Bank which will act as Intermediary in the issuance of Credit/Debit Cards(Visa)

The Bank was chosen on account of ability to meet ACME's accounting requirements. Basically the Bank delivered Detailed statements, both electronically and in Hard Copy to ACME's Card Holders.

3. Acme negotiates EU15/20 payment by the Bank to ACME, per Card issued. (This is standard in Europe)

4. Acme, negotiates 1.5% to 2.5% interest on all of the Debit balances to be paid monthly in arrears to ACME. (Again this is standard in Europe, Banks charge 15%/20% on Credit Card Debit Balances).

5. Since ACME was in this instance dealing with Trucking Companies and Sales Reps. ACME went into the GPRS Monitoring Business. Monitoring charges were based on client purchase volumes.

GRPS Tracking was used both to monitor Salesmen's/Truck Drivers movements, and to meet local fiscal requirements. Salesmen used Company Cars for both business and private usage.

6. ACME had a software package written, which met both the Internal and Fiscal accounting requirements of The Trucking and Sales Rep Clients.
The package in this instance allowed the clients to manipulate both Bank and GPRS data, in order to meet their individual requirements.

7. ACME now had an attractive package, to offer its Target Clientelle.

This model has been adjusted to meet the requirements of a large Trade Union in Europe.

The revenue from the Card issuance fees and the monthly Cash Flow from Interest charges help keep the bottom line healthy as overheads are low.

I feel that it would be very easy to adapt a similar model, to meet your local fiscal requirements.

Good Luck

CharonV; This sounds good, but can one account work across industries and companies (and regions)? In other words VISA or MC style >> Sears and Shell cards, and the bank needs a presence beyond the local area.

Wiz4rd & Interviewables; If a mom and pop retailer uses paper reciepts, can the consumer scan it with their cell phone and tag/describe the item if necessary? Also, could a consumer scan a bar code or rfid tag to subscribe an item into their periodic shopping list? [Then competitive prices from all local stores could be applied to the shopping list]

The various functions could be modular, but will paperless reciepts be the quickest to implement? If consumers can can scan items in the isle and paper receipts at home, we have all the time in the world to work a deal with the creditors for some of the other functions (paperless receipts.

Scanning to the database shouldn't be too hard to implement. I just don't know about reporting functions for scanned receipts. With the information coming from the POS (Point of sale) terminal we can database and classify the information by UPC. If an individual item is scanned then yes it can be implemented.

In Response to Summertime:

Quote"CharonV; This sounds good, but can one account work across industries and companies (and regions)? In other words VISA or MC style >> Sears and Shell cards, and the bank needs a presence beyond the local area."

Hi Summertime,

Yes, we have successfully developed programmes for various un-related entities. For example the Oil company required a package which would assist it in both attracting more "High Net worth Clients", and at the same time have a positive effect on the bottom line.

A Charitable Institution, on the other hand was more interested in the cash flow from the monthly interest charges and the fees for each Card issued.

Basically, each industry will normally require a slightly different software package. BUT this is the Crowdsourcing Bit ?

With regards to regions: Tax regulations may be different depending on the "regions" again this will require modifications to the local software package.

Banks only require a presence in areas where they are giving UNSECURED Credit. This does not prohibit Banks from issuing Credit Cards (VISA/MC) to non resident clients who use other accounts as collateral. For example "The Amex Red Card" is widely available from International Banks.

The KEY to this model, is the Monthly CASH Flow, derived from the debit interest.

CharonV,

"each industry will normally require a slightly different software package"

I don't get this because it sounds like you would be forever inventing the system when members shop in new places. I was thinking of something as universal as your checking card doubling as a major credit or debit card that you can use around the world. I think banks already load more functions. If not, we would be adding a third base-function (don't really like the idea of yet another card).

The consumer tracking company ("Consumer Track" might be a good name) could filter shotgun marketing campaigns into targeting/matching to real consumer activities. Further, consumers might even log onto the web to match their shopping needs to current deals; thus, they could could better control the constant flow of commercial information (not subject to ads direct from retailers) and tune-in to relevant sales offers.

"Monthly CASH Flow, derived from the debit interest."
It seems that a consumer could maintain an account without paying ahead (debit), and with little or nothing in the way of ongoing fees. By the model I am describing above, companies have to target consumers through "Consumer Track". They don't have direct control to target ads, coupons, incentives, and the like, but "Consumer Track" would serve up these target markets. This is where "Consumer Track" could earn their money. If they were consumer owned, they should be able to gain a commanding membership of consumers.