Who am I designing for? The retailer or the consumer?

As a consumer I accumulate a large amount of paper receipts, mostly from credit card transactions, which linger in my wallet and eventually get thrown away. There is a need to make the receipt an object which is retained by the purchaser so that they can check their accounts to make sure they tally, and, if desired, return the item to the seller getting a full refund or store credit.

The receipt at the moment is not designed to aid the receiver. They are printed on thermal paper as it is cheap and does not require the use of ink, this is to cut costs on the retailer's end. By making the object feel cheap it gives a feeling of unimportance and therefore is commonly discarded. This benefits the retailer as the consumer does then no longer have proof of purchase and will therefore find it difficult to return the purchased product. Retailers will do as much as possible to ensure they do not have items returned to them.

I intend to redesign the receipt to aid consumer experience. I intend to improve on the satisfactory experience of receiving said receipt and by designing to increase the quantity of receipts kept and stored by consumers I will be aiding people to retain their consumer rights.