Pre printed till rolls - are they right for my business?

Printing on the back of receipts is for the big retailers only, right? Not anymore, this article covers what types of information are often printed on the back of receipts, why they are important and how this practice can generate revenue for your business. It goes on to explain what cost you can expect to encounter and that costs may not be as prohibitive as you think.

Firstly let's consider what types of information companies elect to place on the reverse of the receipt and more importantly why.

The most common practice is to merely display company information on the back which normally consists of a single or dual colour logo followed by the HQ address, phone number and web address. The receipt issuer's purpose for this information is not simply to make their customers life easier but make their receipt stand out from the crowd and thus reinforcing the brand. This indirectly with other brand reinforcements encourages return visits by customers and increases sales. Placing web addresses and mail order numbers on the back also encourages customers to use the companies other sales channels with the intention of once again increasing sales and increasing brand loyalty.

Many business have information that they wish to deploy to their customers via the receipt. This can be very cost effective compared to other methods? You will notice a variety of information printed from dietary information to terms of sale to returns policies all at the customers finger tips when they receive their receipt.

It is hard to escape advertising wherever you go these days from billboards to digital screens and now even the back of receipts does not escape this phenomenon. It will not surprise you that the fastest growing utilisation for the reverse of the receipt is for advertising material in both text and graphical form. This tends to fall into two categories, advertising for the issuer of the receipt and secondly advertising for third party businesses. Retailers spend a great deal on promoting their business and products to us so what better way of doing this than by advertising to us via the receipt itself. In addition to this stores may want to promote high margin, unique or repeat products directly to the customer and consequently use the back of the receipt for this purpose.

The most interesting use of advertising is when the advertising is not for the receipt issuer but for a third party or for another non competing business. Let us look at an example; have you ever purchased parking via a vending machine only to find a coupon on the back of the receipt for a popular burger franchise? If not then you can certainly understand the concept. So why would the receipt issuer advertise other businesses or their products? The answer is simple, revenue. If a company issues tens of thousands of receipts a day you can guarantee that other business are prepared to pay for the privilege of getting their message across to the issuer's customers. This procedure is acceptable and beneficial to both parties as long as they are not competing against each other now and in the future.

But surely cost it prohibitive to small businesses?

In reality the costs are not as steep as you would think and the costs are coming down all the time as more businesses adopt this practice. Most suppliers will give you two costs if you ask for a quote. Firstly there is usually a one off fee for the setting up the printing hardware and software of your design. You will need to provide the supplier with a detailed design for the reverse of the receipt including details of the colours you wish to use. Secondly you will receive a cost for the rolls themselves. All suppliers will ask for a minimum order with some stipulating a quantity of repeat orders. You may well be surprised how low the quotes are and how small the minimum quantities can be. Consider carefully the number of colours you use in your design as the greater the number of colours the greater the initial and ongoing costs.

What else is there to consider?

So you have print or advertising on the reverse of your receipts and may even be making money from third parties, what else do you need to think about? One last thing to deliberate is coloured paper. With or without pre printing on the back, coloured paper is an excellent way to make your receipt stand out from the crowd. This can be a cheaper way of reinforcing your brand as certain colours are manufactured as standard and if your brand colours match these colours it can be quite cost effective. Most suppliers can provide rolls in any colour that you specify but request a minimal order quantity. Deciding whether pre printed or colour rolls are right for your business is a simple process of working our whether the additional costs outweigh the returns in brand awareness, return customer visits, additional revenue and Information promotion. So what are you waiting for?


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Mike Leary has been improving business process efficiency from the start of his career. Having worked for major retailers, solution providers and printer manufacturers he shares his knowledge in this popular complete guide to paper rolls. Claim it here now for free =>
http://www.rolldepot.co.uk