Sustainability & Digital Receipts: Reducing Paper Waste in Airports

Every day, airports across the world print thousands — sometimes millions — of paper receipts. From coffee kiosks and bookstores to duty-free counters and restaurants, each transaction adds another small slip of thermal paper to the pile.

Individually, they seem harmless. Collectively, they represent one of the least visible but most persistent sources of waste in airport operations.

Thermal receipts aren’t recyclable. They contain BPA and BPS chemicals, which make them environmentally hazardous when burned or discarded. They consume resources — paper, ink, electricity — and produce waste that rarely gets reused.

It’s an odd contradiction: while airports invest heavily in solar power, carbon offsets, and electric shuttles, they still rely on old-fashioned paper receipts to record modern, digital transactions.

That contradiction is exactly what StoreSense’s Digital Receipts Module helps airports eliminate — by turning an outdated process into a smarter, cleaner, and more connected one.

Revenue leakage isn’t usually caused by bad intent—it’s often a byproduct of outdated processes. Let’s break down the key causes:

1. Fragmented PoS Systems
Every concessionaire in an airport typically uses their own point-of-sale system. Without a unified POS data capture solution, airports are left chasing reports in different formats, at different times, with no easy way to standardize.

2. Manual Reporting
Many airports still depend on concessionaires emailing spreadsheets of sales at the end of the week or month. This manual process isn’t just slow—it’s error-prone. Numbers get mistyped, files get lost, and sometimes sales go underreported altogether.

3. Delayed Visibility
By the time those spreadsheets reach the finance or commercial team, the moment has already passed. Without real-time sales data capture, airports can’t see what’s happening on the ground right now. That makes it impossible to act quickly—whether it’s adjusting staffing in a busy store or launching a retail digital campaign to capture more spend.

4. Weak Revenue Assurance
Without automated checks, it’s difficult to confirm that reported sales match actual transactions. This gap directly undermines retail revenue assurance, leaving airports exposed.

5. Limited Passenger Engagement
Even when sales are captured, the lack of a digital receipts platform means missed opportunities to connect with passengers. Instead of building loyalty and encouraging repeat spend with up sell / cross sell campaigns, the interaction ends at checkout.

Airports that remain disconnected pay the price in several ways:

• Revenue Gaps: Leakage eats into overall airport revenue, lowering profitability.
• Sluggish Billing: Manual reconciliation delays settlement, slowing cash flow and frustrating concessionaires.
• Missed Insights: Without airport data analytics or point of sale analytics, airports can’t identify high-value opportunities or underperforming outlets.
• Competitive Disadvantage: Global hubs that invest in airport business intelligence are already outpacing those that don’t—offering optimized layouts,
• personalized promotions, and smarter pricing strategies.

Simply put: airports that aren’t connected aren’t ready for the future.

To thrive in today’s market, airports need to rethink how they handle retail data. Being “ready” means having systems in place that eliminate leakage and unlock growth. Here’s what that looks like:

1. Real-Time, Automated Data Capture
Forget chasing spreadsheets. A modern airport needs a POS data capture solution that integrates seamlessly with concessionaire systems, regardless of vendor. With real-time POS data analytics, every transaction is captured and validated automatically. That means no gaps, no delays, no surprises.

2. Business Intelligence for Every Team
A retail business intelligence solution transforms raw sales into actionable insights. Finance teams gain transparency for airport revenue management. Commercial teams track sales per passenger and revenue per square meter. Marketing teams use POS analytics software to understand customer preferences and trigger smarter campaigns.

3. Passenger Engagement at Scale
Transaction data shouldn’t stop at the checkout. With a digital receipts service, airports can deliver branded receipts straight to passengers’ phones via SMS or email. Beyond convenience, these receipts become a powerful channel for airport retail campaign management. Imagine sending a loyalty reward, a discount for the next purchase, or an invite to a VIP lounge—directly tied to what the passenger just bought.

4. Upsell and Cross-Sell Campaigns
Armed with transaction data, airports can run targeted up sell / cross sell campaigns in real time. For example, if a passenger buys a coffee, a push notification could offer a discount on a pastry. If they purchase duty-free electronics, they might get a tailored offer on travel accessories. This isn’t just marketing – it’s measurable, data-driven engagement.

This is where StoreSense for Airports comes in. Unlike generic retail tools, StoreSense was built specifically for the complexities of airport environments.

• Real-Time Sales Data Capture
  StoreSense uses a secure, plug-and-play device to tap into concessionaire PoS systems, capturing every sale as it happens. This ensures full visibility across outlets without forcing a single vendor or ripping out existing systems.
• Retail Revenue Assurance
  Every transaction is validated against reported data. That means airports gain a tamper-proof audit trail and assurance that billing reflects true sales. No more second-guessing concessionaire reports.
• POS Analytics Dashboards
  StoreSense delivers point of sale analytics through role-based dashboards. Finance, commercial, and marketing teams can all access insights tailored to their needs—from invoice reconciliation to passenger segmentation.
• Digital Receipts Platform
  Passengers receive branded e-receipts instantly, while airports unlock a new engagement channel. This digital receipt solution not only improves passenger experience but also fuels personalized campaigns.
• Airport Retail Campaign Management
  StoreSense makes it easy to design, launch, and measure retail digital campaigns. Whether it’s an upsell offer during a flight delay or a loyalty reminder before departure, campaigns are data-driven and tied directly to sales.

In short, StoreSense is more than just a POS analytics software—it’s a complete airport business intelligence solution that helps airports plug leaks, speed up billing, and grow non-aero revenue.

Which airport do you think concessionaires and passengers prefer?

1. What is revenue leakage in airport concessions?
Revenue leakage happens when airports don’t have accurate, real-time visibility into concessionaire sales. It often occurs due to manual reporting, fragmented PoS systems, and delayed data—leading to underreported or missed revenue.

2. How does real-time sales data capture help prevent leakage?
By automating POS data capture across all concessionaires, airports eliminate errors and delays. Every transaction is recorded instantly, ensuring complete visibility and accurate billing.

3. Is StoreSense difficult to implement?
Not at all. StoreSense is a plug-and-play POS data capture solution that works with existing concessionaire PoS systems. There’s no need to rip and replace, making deployment quick and painless.

4. Beyond revenue assurance, what other benefits does StoreSense provide?
StoreSense isn’t just about stopping leaks—it’s about growth. With airport data analytics, digital receipt solutions, and airport retail campaign management, airports can launch upsell campaigns, optimize layouts, and build stronger passenger engagement.

5. How do digital receipts support passenger experience?
Passengers get convenient, paperless receipts sent straight to their phones. For airports, this digital receipts service doubles as a marketing channel—enabling retail digital campaigns and cross-sell campaigns tied to purchases.