N ORWAY

In Norway, it is just a few DRS providers operating at this time. In this analysis only two companies offering DRS have been found, Posten Norge AS with their service Digipost (Digipost 2, n.d.) and Tificate (Tificate, n.d.). Tificate is a Norwegian company focusing on business related receipts. The Danish company Ekvittering has expressed interest in the Norwegian market (Picard, 2009) but no proof for establishment has been found. This market structure with few providers indicates a none-competitive market with one large dominating company. To get a greater insight into the service, an interview has been made with Mr. Martin Bekkelund, product director for Digipost.

Posten Norge AS and Digipost

Posten Norge AS is a Nordic mail and logistics group that develops and delivers solutions within postal services, communications and logistics with the Nordic region as their market (Posten Norge, n.d.).

Store Digital Receipt

Service Company

Consumer

Company

In spring 2011, Posten Norge AS launched their digital service called Digipost. Digipost is a digital mailbox, corresponding to the physical mailbox, which can be used for secure digital communication between individuals and private and public entities. In Digipost all mail gets sent digitally, based on the street addresses. Paychecks, contract documents, insurance papers, invoices, statements, PIN codes, formal applications, certificates and diplomas are examples of shipments that can be sent by Digipost. Unlike email, the service meets all security requirements for registration and access, and the user of Digipost needs to identify with BankID or Buypass in order to login to their account (Digipost 2, n.d.).

Digital Receipt Service in Digipost

In May 2012, Posten Norge AS launched their digital receipt service together with the company dSAFE (Njarga, 2012). This initiative for collaboration was taken after Digipost first came in contact with dSAFE, a company that had the technical product, but not the possibility to offer it to the end consumer. According to Mr. Bekkelund, this was a natural development of the service already offered in Digipost. In the collaboration between the two companies dSAFE is responsible for the technical development and sales. Digipost is responsible for marketing and the technical integration. Some of the operations are also made in collaboration.

To be able to obtain digital receipts in Digipost, the consumer needs to be a registered user.

The consumer also needs to register their credit card number to their specific Digipost account. When the consumer pays for the product or service with that specific credit card and the information from the bank terminal is correlated with the cash register system, a paper receipt can be generated or sent digitally to the consumer’s Digipost account. In order to obtain the receipt digitally into the Digipost account, the consumer needs to verify their credit card after the first purchase. All receipts will then go automatically and immediately from store into the consumer’s Digipost account. However, it only works if the store is registered and the consumer uses the same registered credit card. If a receipt is needed after purchase, it is possible to search for it based on the amount, shop or date (Digipost 1, n.d.).

According to Mr. Bekkelund, there are currently over 500 000 stores connected to this service. Digipost have managed to sign a contract with chains like; Tilbords, Bunnpris, XXL, Euronics, Byggmakker, Expert, Posten and G-Max (digipost.no). Mr. Bekkelund states that the stores that sign up for the service usually expect something in return. To satisfy this demand Digipost offers additional value added services to the stores. Digipost is

mainly targeting stores offering more expensive products since this is the type of products that the consumers usually save their receipts on.

Digipost has a large target group, targeting people over 15 years old, living in Norway. Mr.

Bekkelund states that he has no precise idea of the characteristics of a typical Digipost user but that the responses they receive are usually from people with a technology interest. In total, there are now over 250 000 users registered at Digipost, but how many of those that are using the DRS is a question Mr. Bekkelund prefers not to answer. However, Mr. Bekkelund answers that the response has been very positive, and he also states that it is probably the service offered by Digipost that has obtained the best response.

According to Mr. Bekkelund, the main advantage with digital receipts expressed by their users is the simplicity. The main concern, on the other hand, is information security. When a transaction is made, Digipost receives transaction data that they combine with technical data.

The main concern for their users is how this information is being used. Mr. Bekkelund says that Digipost never resells data that can identify a person or credit card. In Digipost, the consumer is always the owner of the information. They decide if they want to keep it, download it or delete it.

The service offered by Digipost is free for the consumer and the stores. However, stores that are registered have the opportunity to buy value added services such as sales statistics.

Today it is not possible for stores to send advertising to their consumers. According to Mr.

Bekkelund they have been a bit conservative in this regard, but he also adds that it might be possible in the future. Currently, it is only possible for the stores to send a short message on the backside of the receipt to encourage feedback on the purchase.

The main advantage for Posten relative to other companies with similar services is a strong brand and financial strength. Many people in Norway are familiar with the brand Posten. The financial strength makes it possible to keep investing into the service for a long time “this is not a short time investment, this is an investment that is part of a long-term strategy,” says Mr. Bekkelund.