“Let’s be clear, the receipt does not disappear”. On her social networks, the Minister Delegate for Trade is teaching. A few days before the entry into force of the end of the automatic printing of the receipt, this Tuesday, Olivia Grégoire hammers it: “The only thing that will change from August 1, 2023 is that, if you want the receipt, you will have to ask for it”. Announced for January 1 and then for April 1, 2023, before being postponed twice, this symbolically heavy change forces merchants to adapt, these being used to explain the issues to consumers and remind them of the exceptions. .
“We asked for postponements, which we have always been granted, but now there is only one choice, it is to go ahead and apply this text of the law in the stores. If we are not ready today, we will never be,” says Francis Palombi. The president of the Confederation of French traders (CDF) defends an “absolutely essential ecological measure” because of “all these receipts which end up in the trash”.
In reality, most merchants have already integrated this measure, upstream of its application, and are already asking customers if they want their ticket, underlines the CDF representative. This is particularly the case in mass distribution and fast food chains, where the system is well established. Same thing in the neighborhood restaurant of Matthieu, located in Montorgueil in Paris. The manager only had to check a box in his cash register software so that the tickets were no longer printed automatically. A change that he made several years ago already, and which is “well integrated by everyone”. Similarly, contrary to what the law provides, today it is he who asks his customers whether they want their ticket or not. At Bercy, however, it is confirmed that it is up to the consumer to request their proof of purchase and payment, otherwise the ticket will not be printed.
If professionals “can also offer, without being mandatory, the dematerialization of the printing of the receipt by meeting the standards of the general regulation on data protection (RGPD)”, not all do it. The decree gives them the choice. Matthieu has therefore not provided an alternative solution, such as sending by SMS or email, for customers who would like to receive their ticket digitally. Like this small trader, many professionals will prefer not to offer alternatives, deemed too complex or unnecessary. “Customers must give their email, you can misspell it, it takes more time”, justifies the restaurateur. That leaves two options: get a printed ticket, as usual, or skip it.
Manager of an independent ready-to-wear boutique in Paris, Camille is also doubtful. “I haven’t thought about it at all. It will be the work of the summer”, explains the professional. “We are dinosaurs. For years, we entered our sales by hand in a notebook. We recently switched to software,” she says. The young woman is not completely ready for the new rule: “Today, the return ticket automatically comes out of my checkout. It is not configured to give me a choice, except on the credit card ticket”. Stopping automatic ticket printing also raises the question of customer returns of clothes, a point that worries the manager: “I have a customer who came back for a return and did not have a ticket, saying that he had not been given any. I had to refuse the return, I absolutely need the ticket to be able to make an exchange”, says Camille. No question for the moment of proposing a digital alternative: “It’s too complicated, and we are necessarily wrong when noting the email addresses. Frankly, it’s the least of my worries,” she concludes.
Others have implemented alternatives. “We have seen the emergence of multiple solutions for the dematerialization of the receipt”, notes Laure Brunet-Ruinart, the general delegate of the CDF. But these solutions pose challenges for professionals, particularly in terms of personal data protection. Faced with the too great risk of finding themselves “in legally contentious situations”, Laure Brunet-Ruinart warns merchants, reminding them of the importance of “collecting consent” when noting the customer’s personal data and even advises them “to avoid dematerialization” insofar as, according to her, “too few solutions are in the nails”.
A concern shared by the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL), which has examined the issue at length. “If the merchant decides to offer the dematerialized sending of the ticket, the solutions to be favored will have to seek to minimize, as much as possible, the collection of personal data, or even to avoid it”, underlines the authority. For the CNIL, it is necessary for the merchant to be able to “give a first level of summary information, at the time of checkout”, indicating in particular “the objectives pursued by the collection of data”, and this “so that people understand the use that could be made of it”. With the risk, according to her, that these are then reused “for commercial prospecting purposes”.
On this subject, the fears of Laure Brunet-Ruinart relate particularly to small traders. “No problem for the large supermarket which has its customer file filled out by hand, with the name, first name, email address and the small checkbox at the end on consent. They have the means to set up this kind of thing and an armada of lawyers who advise them, but an independent trader will not be able to afford it”, she regrets.
Faced with this observation, and the reluctance of the managers of small structures, several start-ups have felt the interest of supporting these professionals towards dematerialization. Billiv, Check or even KillBills offer 100% digital receipts. On the one hand, Billiv allows you to obtain your receipt by scanning a QR Code, on the other KillBills sends it directly to the customer’s banking application. Offers which have the advantage of being free for merchants, and which do not require them to ask for the customer’s email address. Their deployment remains limited, however, for the time being.