BRANDING RECEIPTS

Not so long ago, retailers only needed to print numbers and letters on customer's receipts. A legal obligation, receipts were never regarded as any more than that or as having a place in store branding exercises, as a means of reminding customers of special promotions or as part of customer loyalty initiatives. However, as retailers have been exposed to more advanced technology, they have realised that the ability to print barcodes improved stock control and related management information; and that the humble receipt has a greater role to play.

Today, merchants are finding that valuable marketing opportunities can be gained through printed receipt technology. Now, retailers can increase customer loyalty by printing logos on receipts, coupons, vouchers and advertisements as a means of promoting specific events and special offers as well as underscoring branding.

To meet this growing trend, leading printer manufacturers are looking at a number of ways in which to easily incorporate the facility to print graphics, logos and icons on receipts. Star Micronics, in particular, has developed a number of innovative features with the objectives of ease of use, enabling the retailer to quickly define or amend graphics, speed of output - no-one wants the throughput time to increase merely to incorporate graphics - and creative versatility. With these goals in mind, the company has introduced a number of new logo-orientated features into its market-leading receipt printers.

Discussing the new capabilities, Annette Tarlton, marketing manager for the company, explained retailers' previous reticence in adopting logo technology at POS, "Whilst retailers clearly recognise the unrivalled marketing opportunities associated with branding receipts and the production of promotional coupons, they have been hampered to date by expensive and cumbersome software changes." To combat the problem, Star Micronics has developed 'Auto-Logo' for its 'ultimate, high speed printer, the TSP700. An easy-to-use utility enabling even the novice user to pre-load selected logos, coupons or advertising banners automatically, Auto-Logo simply requires the addition of two characters to the product description. As Tarlton says, "No expensive software changes required."

Across its highly specified but low cost TSP600, the TSP700 and the e-commerce, wide-format printer, the TSP800, the company has also incorporated 'LogoStore' as an integral feature. In essence, LogoStore enables retailers to quickly and easily 'flash' or store logos and graphics in the printers' memory, ensuring high speed receipt production with the added flexibility of re-flashing different logos in the printer as often as they want. As Tarlton explains, "Retailers may want to replace logos seasonally, for instance (eg. 'Christmas Cheer' replacing 'Winter Warmers') or as a means of promoting special offers or up and coming events.

A "Logo Download Driver" has been developed to program the printer's memory with the desired logos / coupons.

The company has also looked at the capabilities of its printer drivers to improve graphics output on all three printers. In the wide-format TSP800 particularly, the highly effective and innovative scalable raster driver provides the ability to format a page or screen image in the same way as a standard PC printer, essentially scaling down A4 content to A6, outputting to the 4.5"/112mm paper roll. This facility, in conjunction with the extra paper width available from the TSP800 provides for considerable graphics output versatility, and at the high-speed output of 150mm per second. And Windows TrueType fonts can now be printed just as quickly as resident fonts.

Having addressed the ability for retailers to develop and quickly process graphics at POS, Star Micronics has also included a few finishing touches to its latest new product introductions. All three new printers offer two-colour output (red or blue/black) to help catch the eye of our receipt-carrying consumers. Emphasising its attention to detail, the manufacturer has also developed 'easy-load, drop in and print' paper loading, to overcome that very irritating and fiddly process, which inevitably occurs when there is a queue of bad-tempered consumers, a mile long!

That the role of the receipt printer is evolving is clear. Retailers now have the opportunity to advertise their wares and promote their distinctions by a means that most alternative forms of promotion can simply not match: receipts are an inexpensive medium to which consumers refer several times and often keep for weeks or months. And the technology is now available to harness their potential quickly, simply and with flair!

Background Information on Star Micronics
Founded in 1947, Star Micronics is one of the world's largest printer manufacturers and has facilities for worldwide production, marketing and support. Employing over 2500 staff and achieving turnover in excess of £250 million, Star Micronics has developed a POS printer portfolio that spans thermal and dot matrix printers and mechanisms, designed for barcode, ticketing, receipts and labelling. Star's proven technology is also being utilised to develop reader/writer systems for visual, smart and magnetic stripe cards and to install print mechanisms in multimedia kiosk environments. The Star Micronics' range is available internationally via a distribution channel comprising distributors and dealers.

For further information contact:

Annette Tarlton or Claire Smith
Star Micronics EMEA
Tel: + 44 (0) 1494 471111
Email: Marketing@Star-EMEA.com