2. 1
Alex Scott
26 Douglas Ave
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
E2K 1E4
(506) 333-1073
abscott117@gmail.com
From the year 2020:
Below is a picture of how consumers and businesses used to keep track of
transactions in the year 2011.
“An artifact from the future”
3. 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 3
Business Description..................................................................................................................................... 5
The Market.................................................................................................................................................... 7
Market Analysis............................................................................................................................................. 9
Competition ................................................................................................................................................ 12
Marketing Plan............................................................................................................................................ 18
Sales Plan .................................................................................................................................................... 21
Engineering and Product Development...................................................................................................... 23
Management Team..................................................................................................................................... 27
Operational Plan ......................................................................................................................................... 28
Development Plan....................................................................................................................................... 30
Legal............................................................................................................................................................ 32
Security ....................................................................................................................................................... 33
Financial Plan .............................................................................................................................................. 34
Financial Statements.............................................................................................................Appendix A1-A7
IBM Patent ................................................................................................................................. Appendix B1
4. 3
Executive Summary
The mission of E-Ceipts Inc. is to replace the paper receipt. The electronic data that is
generated from the retailer’s point of sale’s terminal at the time of a purchase will be sent
through the Internet to our company’s secure servers to be stored. Customers will have access
to their own electronic receipts by visiting the E-Ceipts website or mobile smart phone app,
where they can view, analyze, download to their accounting software, and print these records.
The customer will also have the ability to return the purchased items to the store using their
electronic receipt as proof of purchase, without needing to retain a printed receipt. Our
business model systematically removes the paper receipt from the commerce process, and
replaces it with an efficient, organized, and environmentally friendly electronic record.
E-Ceipts users are broken down into two groups based on how they will use our
product. One group is known as “Pay to Use”, and the other is known as “Free to Use.” Our
“Pay to Use” customers will comprise of enterprise retailers and small businesses, while our
free to use customers will consist of consumers and businesses that need to make purchases.
Our “Free to Use” customers will be targeted in stores where E-ceipts is available, and through
a mobile application strategy where consumers will be able to download the E-ceipts’ app from
the major smart phone application stores. Upon set-up the customer will have the ability to
instantly start using E-Ceipts. Our direct competition will consist of smaller companies, with the
majority still in premature stages of setting up electronic receipts.
E-Ceipts will have two avenues for its sales team. One group will consist of "hunters"
whose job it will be to go and sell directly to the head offices of retailers. The other will consist
of "farmers" who will follow up with sales leads generated by customers, who sign up for our
free portion to see if they can become potential paying customers.
Once signed on with E-Ceipts, the consumer can take immediate advantage of paperless
transactions. When the customer takes the product they wish to purchase to the cash register,
they present their E-Ceipts identification. Both the E-Ceipts barcode and the product barcode
are scanned and entered into the seller’s point of sale computer system. The information is
captured by our software, and uploaded to our server farm, where the purchase record is
stored, and can be retrieved if necessary in the event of a future refund or exchange. When
viewing the receipt the user will have the opportunity to view additional products and services
that match the consumer’s purchase profile.
5. 4
Five individuals will lead the management team. Each individual has a unique
background and brings a different set of skills to the company. These individuals are Alex Scott,
Christina Taylor, Matt Doherty, Salhuddin Belal, and Jason Richard.
Our location will be centrally located in the uptown core of Saint John, New Brunswick
Canada. We will be using workstations and cubicles with some main offices and reception. Each
workstation will have a thin client, monitor, keyboard, mouse, chair, storage and desk.
Workstations will be virtualized desktops using the storage and processing of the server array.
All human resources will be conducted internally.
Our development for first half of 2012 will focus primarily on R&D with our point of sale
integration software. We will also commence our sales strategy and strive to sign up our first
retailer within six months. In 2013 we will launch our marketing reporting service that will be
available to retailers back to our paying customers. By 2013 we expect to have the marketing
reports in full operation.
E-Ceipts has a pending licensing agreement in place to protect its technology flow
method with IBM. Our trademark name is” E-Ceipts”, and we have a tentative agreement to
purchase its “. com” web domain name. All users will have to sign a privacy agreement that will
state what we can and cannot do with the data we are collecting. Our research through Canada
Revenue Agency indicates that the government will accept electronic receipts from businesses
for declaring expenses as long as the receipt was the “original” that was generated from the
point of sales.
Consumers and businesses will benefit from the removal of paper transactions, as this
will decrease the chances of receipts being tampered with. Through our model, only the
business and the buyer will have access to the recorded transaction, which eliminates the
possibility of misuse of a receipt. All electronic records will be encrypted until they are
unpackaged at our web site.
To begin our research and development and the launch of our commercial application
we seek to initially raise $750,000 in capital. While in our first year we expect to lose $249,000
we expect to begin to break even in our second year, and by our fifth year we will have
generated an income of 3.3 million.
6. 5
Business Description
E-Ceipts is a company that is going to replace the paper receipt. By taking the electronic
data that is generated from the Point of Sales (POS) terminal at time of a purchase, the data will
be sent through the Internet to our own secure servers, where the electronic receipts will be
stored. Customers will have access to their own electronic records by pulling them through the
smart phone application or visiting our website. The user will be able view, analyze, and print
these records. Cell phone users will also have the ability to pull their receipt on demand for the
purposes of making a return or exchange through the use of a digital barcode.
Businesses who sign up with us will be charged on a per transaction basis. For
individuals and businesses that want to use E-Ceipts to store their electronic data the cost to
use the service will be free. By creating a “Free to Use” component in the business model, it will
give us the ability to create critical mass quickly. By giving each individual a unique identifier we
will have the ability to identify what each individual is purchasing, and create a purchasing
profile around that person (region, gender, age, where and what they purchase). We will use
this real-time data, and sell this information back to companies as we provide this information
back to retailers in the form of monthly marketing reports.
The long-term value behind E-Ceipts comes from the marketing data that generated
from each customer who makes a purchase. If you were to analyses all of the receipts from one
individual, these receipts would begin to tell a story about that person. You would quickly learn
where that person likes to shop, and what the person likes to buy. You would quickly be able to
tell if that man or woman making that purchase has a family at home—all based on what they
bought. The true value is that if you know what people have bought you can predict what
people are going to buy again. With this information E-Ceipts will take one-to-one marketing to
a new level. We will create a level of marketing where companies will no longer have to waste
their advertising dollars on customers who will never purchase their products. Thought data
mining we will be able to predict which customers are most likely to purchase particular
products, and we will begin to find innovative ways to advertise to them.
The main point about our company is that we are not in the business of point of sales.
Our technology will integrate with today’s existing POS software, so our software would be
considered more a plug-in rather than go in direct competition with the major POS companies.
That way we will not be taking any market share away from them. It would actually be
7. 6
beneficial for E-Ceipts if retailers feel the need to upgrade their point of sale, which in fact they
are. Retail establishments, such as restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, department stores,
and clothing store are finding it essential to have a fully functional integrated POS solution.
With many chains today having multiple locations, their head office needs to have quick access
to this information to help them manage pricing decisions, sales data, and inventory. Analysts
are expecting companies to spend 4.5 billion in 2012 on upgrades to their POS systems to
ensure they are optimizing on all of the necessary data. Truly integrated solutions, and Internet
enabled POS systems are together expected to raise in popularity to drive market gains in the
near future.
The need for electronic receipts is real. Today when a consumer makes a purchase, they
are expected to hold on to this paper receipt if in the event that they wish to return the product
or make an exchange. All too often someone loses his or her receipt. So now they are stuck
with a product they do not want, or they are not able to claim their warranty. If a business
owner needs to purchase something for their business, they need to retain that receipt every
time if they expect to receive a tax deduction on the purchased product. So at a later date the
data has to be manually entered back into the accounting software. So productivity is lost, a
tree is cut down to print the paper, and the receipts often fade over a period of time, which is
never beneficial if the IRS or Revenue Canada decides its time to do an audit.
The core element of E-Ceipts is about the recognition and elimination of this deficiency
in our commerce system. With the inclusion of the Internet into the equation, we can
systematically remove the paper transaction. Our premise is that if a product can be identified
with a barcode, why not a person? If we can identify the person, identify the product being
purchased, and identify the establishment from where it was purchased, then all of this
information can be securely stored electronically, without having to print anything at all. If the
customer wants to return that recently purchased product, all the person would need is their
smartphone that gives instant access to their electronic receipts. Now the business owner who
wants that tax deduction on their purchases can have that data instantly downloaded on
demand into a spreadsheet or into their accounting software. Suddenly all the shoeboxes filled
with receipts are gone, the office filing cabinet is looking a lot more organized these days, and
that tree out in the forest is still standing strong, helping to clean the air in our environment.
8. 7
The Market
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
The POS terminals today consist of hardware and software. They allow retailers to
maintain absolute control over sales and inventory has already been widely employed for easy
customer checkouts. The POS hardware market currently has dominated by two major leaders of
IBM and NCR, whose market shares account for 47% and 23% separately in the industry. Also
the software market has been divided up by a number of players, owning smaller pieces of the
market as followed:
Source: Lake West Group 10th
Annual POS Benchmarking Survey 2011
As can be seen, Epicor, with its acquisition of NSB Retail Systems, has jumped into the
top spot with a 12% share of the market. IBM has a strong presence on the software side, as does
SAP, Oracle, and NCR with 11% shares each. The share of the market that is inhabited by
proprietary of homegrown system has remained strong.
According to a prediction on the Lake West Group 10th
Annual POS Benchmarking
Survey (2011), the POS software marketplace will continue to alter over the next few years with
more potential mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations and there would be fewer players in this
9. 8
market in the future, although the market will likely support a variety of software vendors as
different retailers have varying technology, size, volume, and functionality requirements.
E-Ceipts aims to build strong partnership with these POS software suppliers through
integrating our software with the POS terminals, so that enterprises or individual customers are
able to capture data with e-Ceipts immediately when they going through the checkouts. E-Ceipts
aims to partner with the companies with the largest market share first.
Here is information of the main POS software suppliers targeted by E-Ceipts:
Company Founded Headquarters Website Owners
hip
Revenue Employee
s
Epicor 1984 Irvine,
California
www.epi
cor.com
NASD
AQ:
EPIC
$409
million
(2009)
3,000
IBM 1911 Armonk, New
York
www.ib
m.com
$103.6
billion
398,455
SAP 1972 www.sap
.com
NYSE:
SAP
$10.671
billion
51,500
Oracle 1977 Redwood
Shores, CA
www.ora
cle.com
NASD
AQ:
ORCL
$22.4
billion
(2008)
85,000
NCR 1894 Duluth,
Georgia, USA
www.ncr
.com
$4.61
billion
(2009)
21,500
Fujitsu 1935 Minato,
Tokyo, Japan
www.fuji
tsu.com
$46.714
billion
(2009)
185,926
Cornell-
Mayo
1981 New York,
USA
www.cor
nell-
mayo.co
m
$10-$20
million
(estimate
d)
49
10. 9
Market Analysis
E-Ceipts will have two types of customers. These types are known as “Pay to Use” and
“Free to Use”. Both the paying and the free customers are intertwined into our business model,
as we cannot have one without the other.
Our paying customers will consist of large enterprise companies and small businesses.
An example of an enterprise company would be a retail chain with multiple stores, such as
Sears, Wal-Mart, or Best Buy, while an example of a small business would be a single store
owned by one individual or a small chain. As long as the small business has a POS terminal, and
a direct IP connection to the Internet, and a barcode scanner, they would fall under as a
potential customer.
The “Free to Use” target base consist of everyday consumers in a consumer-to-business
(C2B) structure. These everyday consumers will be the ones who will use E-Ceipts to store their
receipts. Also in our Free to Use structure will consist of businesses that need to make
purchases for their own business. An example would be an employee who is filling up their
company car with gasoline, and needs to save the receipt for the tax deduction.
11. 10
The reason we believe that this service will succeed in the market right now is timing.
Consumers and businesses alike are both looking for ways to promote a green image, yet the
majority has indicated they do not want to pay more than what they are already paying for
their way of life. Also the significant growth of the mobile cell phone market makes it easy for
E-Ceipts to deploy an electronic Barcode Identifier that can be used at the POS terminal.
Companies are also trying to find ways to better attract and monitor customer information to
allow growth. By becoming the center hub between the consumer, retailer, POS, and their
smartphone E-ceipts will be able to bring all of this all-together under one package.
PAYS TO USE: ENTERPRISE AND SMALL BUSINESSES
E-Ceipts is a for-profit company. We depend on a growing and residual stream of
income to be successful. This revenue stream will come from the “Pays to Use” portion of our
customers. As mentioned earlier, this will mainly consist of small businesses and enterprise
companies with multiple stores. We will target these companies through a number of
methods:
1. Sales: A sales team will be developed with the primary mandate of selling our product
to individual small businesses and enterprise companies. For enterprise retailers our
sales representatives set up meeting with the proper representatives within the buying
centre of these companies. Once our software integrates with retailer’s existing POS
system so there will be no hardware upgrades required. We will give the retailer the
option to print the receipt or not when an E-Ceipts customer makes a purchase, but the
customer can still choose to receive both the paper version and it the electronic in the
early lifecycle so the customer can develop the comfort level necessary. If the customer
chooses the electronic option the cost that the business would have paid for the
thermal paper will be off set. Our pricing model is based on a charge per customer so
there will be no upfront cost to sign up.
2. Marketing Data: We are going to make sure that when businesses sign up with E-Ceipts
that they understand they are receiving more than just an electronic receipt. Once our
“free to use” customers start to use our product, there is going to be a lot of purchasing
data flowing through our servers. We will know what individuals are purchasing, and we
intend to share this information with our paying customers so that they will be able to
make better marketing decisions to increase their business. Each month, E-Ceipts will
12. 11
release a marketing report that our paying customers can look up. They will have access
to national, regional, and local purchasing trends. The business has to be willing to
commit to the process, which requires time to get the full benefit of the demographic
information. As we grow, and the information store increases, this will allow for an
increase in the mass amount of marketing information and reliability of the data. This
detailed information will be available in an easy-to-read format at our website. We want
to show our paying customers that we are on their side, and wish to help the increase
their business.
Free to Use: Consumer to Business (C2B) and Business to Business (B2B)
The second portion of our customer base is our “free to use” group. This group will
essentially be our customer’s customers. The “free to use” group consists of two types of
customers: consumer to business (C2B) and business-to-business (B2B). An example of C2B
would be the everyday shopper, while an example of B2B would be a local business that buys
from another local business down, and requires receipts for accounting and tax purposes
To make E-Ceipts work with our free customers we need several things to happen. First
we need places for our customers to shop that use E-Ceipts (signing up paying customers), then
we need a way to identify the individuals and products they purchase, and finally we need an
economically viable method of distribution for our E-Ceipts identification. To solve the
identification and distribution problem we are going to create an electronic Barcode
identification that can be downloaded free on to the consumer’s smart phone. For users who
do not use cell phones consumers will have the opportunity to order an E-Ceipts keychain and
card through our website.
13. 12
Competition
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Indirect Competition
E-Ceipts is not in the business of point of sales. Our technology aims at integrating with
the existing software provided by the POS software manufacturers, such as Epicor, IBM, etc. We
plan to build a strong long-term partnership with these POS companies. Since E-Ceipts’
technology would put much emphasis on developing a plug-in to combine with the existing
software rather than competing directly with those main point of sale manufacturers. E-Ceipts
will not take any market share away from them. That way we consider these POS companies as
indirect competitors. That would actually be beneficial for E-Ceipts, since our business will not
have to go in direct competition with these major strong companies.
The niche market of electronic receipts in the POS industry is still in its infancy. While
the major POS manufactures have built the infrastructure, and have the capacity to move
forward, it seems that these major players still only have a few customers at best. It seems as
though they are waiting for customers to seek them out. We think the opposite of this. E-
Ceipts believe that the key to cracking this industry is not only to have the infrastructure in
place, but also to have a robust, highly trained sales team actively pursuing major retailers.
However, equally important -- and sometimes even more so -- E-Ceipts will help these
companies appeal to more customers by combining with E-Ceipts’ easy-to-store and
environmental-friendly technology. Through providing an electronic receipt function and
database, E-Ceipts will enable those companies to get much more benefit and improve their
profit margin. The major point of sales companies would be please to cooperate with E-Ceipts,
since we are assisting in leveraging their consumer data, and improving their marketing
efficiency.
14. 13
Direct Competition
According to the analysis of the direct competition, E-Ceipts finds out there is no market
leader as of yet. E-Ceipts thinks that the direct competition will consist of smaller companies,
who the majority is still in premature stages of setting up electronic receipts. Here is an analysis
of E-Ceipts’ direct competition, as followed:
i. Digital Receipts Network – MyReceipts.com – Third Solutions
Third Solutions, Inc., launched January 2008, is a Florida based technology and
marketing company focused on the development of products and services that help connect
consumers and retailers through effective solutions. Third Solutions has created a platform
where retailers are able to get access to the Green Receipt Program to track their stores and
their customers’ shopping experience.
POS developers can download the tools, APIs and documentation to integrate the open
and improved digital receipt functionality. Manufacturers can create targeted marketing
campaigns and access real-time reports on customer behavior, and apply the Digital Receipts
Network to send coupons, promotions and messages directly to customers through the
myreceipts.com website. Retailers can access detailed paperless receipts via the
myreceipts.com website.
Third Solutions is a member of ARTS (The Association for Retail Technology Standards).
The company has designed the next version of the APTS Digital Receipts XML standard. The
Digital Receipts Platform supports both the Digital Receipt XML standard as well as the widely
deployed ARTS T-Log XML schema also known as POSLog. Hypercom, Third Solutions’ partner, is
able to access the Digital Receipts Platform via existing Hypercom technology and products.
Third Solutions, Inc. is also an IBM Certified Partner for the IBM Retail Store Solutions
Platforms. Besides, Third Solutions has build partnerships with Logivision (Quebec), Microsoft,
and RSPA.
Global Electronic Receipt Data Aggregation (Central Database)
Use SOAP protocol
Beta launched Jan 2008
15. 14
My Receipts app found in the Apple App Store - can view receipts.
Use Digital Receipts Network (Digital Receipt XML)
Get an email notification when new receipt is associated with account
Can get SMS notification
Use MyReceipts card, email, or phone # to identify account
Get card – then go to website to create account (new user)
Can get card & use immediately (sign up after)
Can associate with loyalty card or credit card # as well (looks like id is free-
form)
Can add receipts manually, but cannot edit generated receipts
Download to Quicken, MS Monday, etc. planned for future
Some stores require printed Digital Receipts – other require providing card
Free for members
Allow gift receipts – can forward to others
Support online merchants
Offer promotions, recalls on products
Can organize receipts into categories
Spending reports
Banner advertising available to retailers
No Charge to Retailers
Cannot find any list of participating retailers
ii. Quick Receipts – Intuit – myquickreceipts.intuit.com
Users can store and access their receipts from participating pilot (Best Buy) from
retailers when they need them. Quick Receipts partnered with afterBOT during the pilot,
however, the project since has since ceased, and has been no attempt to reboot the project.
16. 15
iii. afterBOT – Receipts PLUS
afterBOT, Inc. is an innovator in the development of real time business solutions for the
retail enterprise Based on the ARTS XML Digital Receipt schema, afterBOT’s TransAccess™
application extends that standard to provide a “real time retailing” solution that stores,
analyzes and transforms transaction data into actionable insights across the extended retail
enterprise.
The solution consists of several major components. It offers TransAccess Enterprise
Connect, which enables employees throughout the operation, such as merchandisers, buyers,
store operations, finance and accounting, and customer service to access real-time and
historical post-sales information about individual transactions; and TransAccess Supplier
Connect that allows users to provide suppliers with the real-time information they need to
continually monitor the selling and non-selling items. The company also provides Customer
Connect, which enables users to access their own post sales transaction information to keep
the track of receipts, transactions, and sales tax information; and Quick Receipts Connect, a
multi-retailer solution that provides access to important customer data in afterBOT/Intuit Quick
Receipts centralized digital receipt repository. afterBOT, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is
headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.
The company is currently working with IP Capital Licensing as they are pursuing
licenses with commercialization partners who are best suited to capitalize on the value
of their portfolio of patents. It is possible that E-ceipts may wish to partner with afterBOT
to help perfect its own technology, and give our company an advantage by giving it
quicker access of commercialization.
Patent awarded June 2009 which aggregates across retailers
Retailers using: Peek (San Francisco, Jan 2009), Smart & Final (California, 2001)
(non-aggregated)
Partners: Retail Anywhere, IBM, HP, Inovis, MetroSplash, ARTS, Voluntary
Interindustry Commerce Solutions, Association of Food, Beverage, and Consumer
Products Companies
$3.1 M VC Funding 2001
Planned launched Aug 2009 (still listed on website)
17. 16
iv. allEtronic
allEtronic provides users with a free online account to receive and track their receipts
from the retailers offering its service. allEtronic can identify customers’ account when they are
in a store through their credit or debit card. allEtronic uses bank-level data security verified by
Trustwave and McAfee, being certified as a level 2 Service Provider according the PCI Security
Standards Council Privacy and Security Policy. Customers’ profile and transaction history is
safe, secure, and fully confidential with allEtronic.
Fullerton, California
“Self-sufficient” start-up
Can view, organize, email, export receipts
Free for members
Card or provide phone #
Coupons linked to account – can get coupon by swiping
Paperless return, warranty info, registration
Retailers pay fee – estimated 25% of what they spend on receipt paper
Accepts American zip codes only during registration
Partners: Says they have some, cannot find any listed
Retailers: Says they have some, cannot find any listed (did find some forum
posts saying they were used in a local supermarket)
v. ValiCert – Digital Receipt Solutions
California
Bought receipt.com 1999- now AdSense site
White paper in 2001 – focused on security of electronic transactions, legal proof
of transactions
Since merged with Tumbleweed
18. 17
vi. WECEIPT
Launched 2009
Can add receipts manually
Email receipts
Nothing else on website – “Until stores go digital...”
vii. ReceiptsOnDisk
iPhone App
Capture receipt & store
Use for refund/exchange, price comparison, warranty periods
viii. RASIC Corporation - MyReceiptCard
Patent for sale
Demo online
ix. EWR – ewrinc.com
EWR, Inc. provides electronic agriculture receipts services to companies. The company
currently handles over 14.5 million electronic receipts. EWR offers its users flexibility through
being designed to work in conjunction with any software that the user many already have.
EWR provides to users at no cost a very basic package that allows them to work directly with
the EWR system.
Launched 1994
Over three-dozen vendors of software packages for warehouses, gins,
merchants, buying points, sellers, banks, etc.
Communicate directly with EWR system
19. 18
Marketing Plan
E-Ceipts QR Code ID E-Ceipts Key Chain ID
The greatest challenge that our company will face is to effectively distribute E-Ceipts'
identification tags out to consumers in an economically feasible fashion. The emergence of such
technologies as the smart phone gives E-Ceipts the ability to give consumers an instant national
presence. The most economical solution to this is to create a free mobile application that will
give consumers an electronic barcode identification tag that can be scanned upon opening of
the app. The QR barcodes have already proved effective in being able to be scanned by a POS
through the glass screen of the mobile phones.
We will use this same model, and distribute the Barcode IDs through the major smart
phone application stores. This includes the Android, Blackberry, and iPhone devices. Users will
also have the ability to create an E-Ceipts account right on the app. After which a permanent
barcode will generated and be saved in the user's phone. The QR barcodes will be a stepping-
stone that eventually will be replaced with RFID signal, once the technology becomes more
widely available in smart phones and at the POS terminals. The QR barcode works with existing
technology and is ready now.
These electronic Barcode IDs will resonate well with who we believe will already be our
strongest target market—a tech savvy consumer who likely already owns a smart phone. While
the electronic barcode will be its primary purpose we see the applications carrying additional
features such as giving users the ability to view transactional history, using the spending
tracker, and so forth. While not every consumer carries a smart phone, it will be essential to
accommodate to those consumers who don't, but still have Internet access. We will reach these
consumers through the use of key chain and traditional wallet-size barcode identification cards.
The cards and key chains can be obtained from our website or though a promotional displays
that will occasionally be available though businesses who use E-Ceipts.
20. 19
When consumers visits one of stores, which have signed up with us we will have a
display set up with a sign at the top that says, “Say good bye to Receipts with E-Ceipts.” There
will be a picture of a paper receipt crossed out on the left side, and on the right side will be a
screen shot of an organized, efficient layout of the electronic receipts that they will get by
signing up with E-Ceipts. Below this visual shot will be a QR code that the user can scan with
their smart phone that will take them to our web site. At this point the user will have the option
to download one of our apps from the appropriate application store that matches their smart
phone. The user selects their phone brand and will be given the opportunity to instantly
download the app.
When the user obtains one of our small-plasticized E-ceipts key chains there will be full
instructions on how to sign up. Once the individual has taken the key chain, all that will be left
for the user to do is visit our website at www.eceipts.ca to register. Below the barcode on the
key chain will be several numbers that will act as an ID. Once these numbers are entered during
the registration process, along with the individual’s personal information, we will now be able
to link up the key chain to the user. They are now ready to begin shopping receipt- free.
Pricing Strategy
Small Business Rate $0.02/Transaction
Enterprise Rate $0.01/Transaction
Our pricing strategy is based on the ability of having critical mass. By charging a low-cost for
businesses, and having it free for their customers we aim to become successful based on a high
volume of transactions that will be available across an assortment of retail chains.
By creating an option to choose not to print, we plan to offset the additional costs of
having E-Ceipts by removing the overhead of printing thermal receipt paper. As enterprises will
have a larger volume of transactions we will offer them a one-cent reduction in comparison
with small businesses. A business with 10 stores or more would fall under our enterprise rate
while a retail chain with less would be charged the small business rate.
Receipt Advertising $0.02 cents per click
Marketing Reports Subscription $100/Year
21. 20
When retailers sign up for E-Ceipts they will have the opportunity to try two important
services that we will offer. The first is to offer the retailer the ability to advertise products and
services that match up with consumer’s “purchase profile” that the retailer offer in their store.
They will be able to advertise current sales and specials to these customers.
The other subscription option available will be our monthly data marketing reports. We
will give users access through the use of a search engine the ability to look at marketing trends
in a national, regional, and local scope. They will be able to breakdown and view what certain
demographics are purchasing. This will enable the seller to better understand their customers,
and will assist them with their own marketing.
Ecommerce Strategy
E-Ceipts is an example ecommerce having a practical purpose outside the realms of the
Internet and the computer. However, it will be imperative for E-Ceipts to have a strong online
presence outside of its web site. Beyond being able to connect with our customers we want our
customers to be able to connect with us. It will be important that we optimize our presence on
the major search engines, such as Google and Bing. If anyone types in the words “receipts” or
“electronic receipts”, we want to ensure that we will be at the top of the first page.
We also know the importance of having an online presence on the major social
networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and these have already been set up.
(www.twitter.com/eceipts.) These will be some of the ways that we will share our updates and
success with our customers. We will also make it very clear that we want our customers to
provide us feedback on any aspects they would like to see improved. Any promotions or
contests that we are hosting, we would like to facilitate through these mediums. That’s why it
will be critical to get that first lead customer, so we can get our company name out there, and
earn that important recognition early within our existence. To accomplish this we are seeking
investors who will not only provide us with funding, but who will also have connections within
the retail industry. We will want to utilize this model to obtain at least two major customers.
This would provide us with enough recognition for them to know that they have heard of us,
but are not sure exactly what we are about. As we obtain more customers, and become better
known throughout the retail industry, we expect this to challenge to lessen with each pitch that
our representatives make.
22. 21
Sales Plan
In order to obtain our paying customer base we will need to develop a direct sales team
to sell our products and services. Our sales team will consist of several “hunters”, who will have
to physically go out and present our product to representatives in retailer’s head offices across
North America. Our best and highest paid will be these sales reps that will hold these positions.
Also our sales will consist of “farmers”, in which these representatives will have a less
aggressive approach.
The top priority for our sales hunters will be to land our lead customer. This needs to be
a large North American enterprise retailer, such Sobeys or Hudson’s Bay Company. This will be
essential so we can start to grow our consumer base as it will give them a place where shoppers
visit frequently, and therefore, gives them a reason to use E-Ceipts. The pay structure for the
hunters will be a half and half combination—half salary, and half commission.
While we will have our hunter base, we are also going to have our farmers. They will be
working with leads generated from businesses that have signed as our “Free to Use” customer.
One of our marketing strategies with our free to use customer base is that we are going to
target the benefits of using E-Ceipts to small businesses (Ex: Businesses need to save their
receipts for six years. Now they will always be in one place.) When a business signs up at our
web site, we are going to ask several questions, such as address, what type of business are you
operating, e-mail and a phone number. Now our farmers we will be able to utilize this data to
generate a pool of potential paying customers. So for example if we notice that in Toronto that
a large number of small business retailers begin to use E-Ceipts to collect their receipts, our
sales representative can set up appointments to meet with these individuals, and see if we can
land them as potential paying customers. By combining our marketing strategy with our sales,
we can use our free to use customer base as a catalyst for potential paying customers.
Sales Tactics and Customer Support Mechanisms
Our sales team is going to be lead by Alex Scott and Matthew Doherty. Both individuals
have years of Sales experience, which dealt with such sales aspects including generating sales
leads, cold calling, inside sales, and creating a one on one relationship after the sale has been
completed. It will also be important for our sales team to know the product well, so if any
technical questions or minor technical support issues arise we want our sales staff to be able to
23. 22
assist our customers with basic technical support, as our customers may feel compelled to call
our sales representative directly. All of these skill sets will be essential for to incorporate in
order for E-Ceipts to have a successful and productive sales team.
On the sales side, one of the greatest challenges for our sales team is being able to
penetrate and set up one-on-one meeting with retailers. We plan to minimize this by seeking
out investors who can help our sales team get in the door. The great opportunity is that if a sale
is made that you will not only make a sale for one store, the sale can potentially be for
hundreds of stores. At the same time our company will take every measure to keep costs down
by using such communication mediums, such as telephone, email, and fax.
The personality make up of our sales will need to be attentive and goal oriented. They
will need to be a self-starter, and have the drive belief necessary to sell our product. In return
we will ensure that our sales team has the mobility and flexibility necessary so they are not tied
down in the office all the time, but have the proper communication tools necessary to develop
that one-on-one relationship with their customer.
During the first years of operations our sales expenditures will run high relative to our
revenue. It will be important in the first few years to develop that large enterprise company
base. The method of selling will require our sales reps to travel not to the store, but to the
head office. The head offices are the ones in most cases who make the tactile decisions about
how the stores will be run. This in the beginning this may prove costly, but the advantage is that
when a sales rep signs up one retailer there are potentially hundreds of stores that will be
signed up all at once.
24. 23
Engineering and Product Development
How does E-Ceipts work?
Purchases
E-Ceipts has a number of primary technological components that are described in this
section. These range from the web portal site at www.eceipts.ca, our data warehouse
database, and the software that will be found on our client’s POS. Our setup will ensure that
once a consumer has registered with the E-Ceipts program, they will immediately have the
opportunity to begin taking advantage of the benefits of paperless transactions.
The main technical component of E-Ceipts consists of two parts. The first is our back
end. The data warehouse will store the user data, company data, product data, and
transactional data. To date we have been able to create a small proof of concept database that
will be the base to create a large-scale commercial product. The second part is out software
component that will integrate with the retailer's existing POS. The integration software will be
installed on the POS system. The software will identify the consumer, via a barcode identifier,
securely package the data up and sent it to our data warehouse. Since we will be holding what
potentially can be sensitive financial data for the consumer, there will needs to be virtually zero
25. 24
room for error. Also one of our main objectives is to ensure that the consumer will not have to
print any receipt to complete a valid return or exchange. All they will need is their assigned
personal identifier.
The process on how E-Ceipts works is as follows. Once the consumer has found the
product they would like to purchase, they would proceed to the checkout per usual to perform
the monetary exchange and obtain the product. They purchase the product through the normal
means of cash, credit or debit. During the transaction, the store representative scans the
product barcode, and then scans the consumer's barcode found on the QR code found on their
phone or by use of their card or keychain. Once the barcode is scanned the, data is retrieved by
our E-Ceipts software, which has been installed onto the seller’s computer, and integrates with
their Pont of Sale system. This software has a service connector setup, which acquires the
information through a Structured Query Language (SQL) that works by sending and receiving
the required data from the seller’s computer to our E-Ceipts server farm. The information
uploaded to our server includes the purchaser’s E-Ceipts ID that will identify the buyer, the
product name, product price, and any other promotional information related to the product.
Once this information has been obtained and confirmed, it is packaged, encrypted, and sent
through the company firewall to the E-Ceipts’ server through a direct IP Internet connection.
Once the information has been sent to the E-Ceipts server, the encrypted data will be
unpacked. Only E-Ceipts can unpack this content, which ensures that no personal information
can be retrieved by outside parties.
E-Ceipts’ data warehouse will store the information over multiple tenants within the
database itself, and over multiple computers to share resources and provide data backup and
redundancy. Once data is delivered, it is copied and distributed over multiple boxes in the farm
to confirm that data is not lost and always accessible. This allows for server load balancing of
the computer during busier times of year such as the Christmas shopping season. If in the event
of a hardware failure in one of the servers, it will fail over to the next server, preventing a
disruption in service. Once this information has been saved and replicated in our database, the
data can now be retrieved directly by the user. The user will have a confirmation of purchase
though a push notification on their smart phone or through an email if they so choose.
Regardless of whether confirmations are sent out or not, all information will always be
26. 25
accessible to the user by going to our web portal and accessing the information at
www.eceipts.ca.
If the user decides to have their electronic transactions transmitted to their computers
or smart phone, it is done through the same secure method as it was delivered to the servers. It
will be encrypted under the same protocols and cached on the user’s computer or smart phone
device. With the smart phone market growing, we will develop applications for these devices
that help individuals and businesses keep track of their purchases through a given period.
Larger companies will also be able to access this information on a demand basis and have their
employees’ transactions downloaded into the company’s database. This will aid the accounting
department as they will have instant access to all of their employees’ transactions. This
information is maintained and managed for the company on our servers, which can be accessed
through the Internet cloud.
From the main web portal at www.eceipts.ca, users will have the option of downloading
their financial information to software packages such as Quicken for Accounting, Simply
Accounting, and Excel spreadsheets. Users will also be able to track their own spending directly
on our website through easy-to-read displays, including pie charts and bar graphs. These visuals
provide information on their spending habits through product segmentation such as groceries,
entertainment, and bill payments. While in the early stages we will offer these services for
free, our plan is to switch consumers over to a subscription based service to enable them to
download this data into their accounting software.
Returns
In the event that the consumer wishes to return a product, E-Ceipts offers ease of use
through its barcode system. When a consumer wishes to return a product they will pull up the
receipt that corresponds to their purchase though the consumer’s smart phone. The user will
have the ability to search either through the retailer or date. Once the line item is found there
will be an associated QR code on the smart phone screen that can be scanned at the POS
terminal to validate the purchase. At that point the POS terminal will pick up the product
information, and the return will be complete. When the POS completes the return transaction
E-ceipts servers will flag the product as being returned. The confirmation email will be sent to
the user’s email showing the return, and the next time the user visits our web portal or app
they can view the returned product as well.
27. 26
Spending Tracker
We feel the purpose behind E-Ceipts is a very logical step in the evolution of commerce.
The advantage of moving away from the paper to the digital enables us to perform a number of
functions that we previously could not. When a customer logs on to our website, they will be
able to see exactly where and what they are spending their money on. Unlike such spending
trackers, such as Quicken Online, which downloads the data from your online bank statements
and breaks down each segment (Grocery, Entertainment, Clothing), we will have the ability to
go beyond what they do. While banks statements only have the ability to determine where you
shopped at how much was spent E-Ceipts will have access to the product information, and
therefore, we will be able to provide a more in-depth analysis into consumer spending by
breaking down their purchases into products segments. This in turn will help customers control
their costs, because they will know exactly what they are spending their dollars on, which can
be effective when making up budgets. A person will be able to see this information in a clear
fashion, whether through a bar graph or pie charts. By signing up with our company our
consumers will have the benefit of knowing they are “Adding Dollars with Sense.”
Advertisements on Electronic Receipts
When it comes to advertising online the major Internet companies of today compete against
one another for the user’s Internet space. Companies attempt to gather marketing data on the
consumers in order to be able to better match up their interests with their potential purchases.
With E-ceipts we will have direct access to their purchase information and we plan to mine this
data so that we can directly advertise back to the user when they come to view their purchase
history. We will provide links that will enable users to see deals and specials that will be going
on with stores where they have made previous purchases. We will also advertise based on the
market segmentation categories in which the consumer would fall (example: a mother who
buys diapers would receive an advertisement for other children’s products.) We will offer links
right on the electronic receipt that will open up a second window in the E-ceipts app or
browser. The client will be able to see the products offered, and they will be able to easily
return back to their electronic receipt if necessary.
28. 27
Management Team
The management team currently consists of five individuals. Everyone has different
background and each individual brings different experiences and a different perspective to our
team.
Alex Scott
Alex Scott was born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick. He recently finished his
business degree at the University of New Brunswick this past spring. He also has a background
in journalism, as he attended the New Brunswick community college in Woodstock. His
previous employers include local companies such as Irving Oil, Aliant and CBC radio. Alex will
be leading on the business front of the company by helping with the accounting and marketing
and leading the business planning.
Christina Taylor
Christina has worked in the information technology industry for 15 years, in the
telecommunications, insurance, e-government, and financial payments industries, in roles
ranging from Software Developer to Functional Architect, Project Manager, and Program
Manager. Christina was a member of the start-up team of Kinek Technologies, and is the owner
of Focal Point Business Coaching of the Maritimes. Christina holds a Bachelor of Computer
Science from the University of New Brunswick, is a Certified Project Management Professional,
and a Certified Business Coach. Christina will be our team-lead project manager, and she also
has programming experience, where she will help when required.
Matt Doherty
Matt Doherty started his first enterprise in 1994, as he opened a coffee shop and
restaurant. After that he was involved in the contact center industry with highly recognizable
companies in the several sales positions. In 2006 he started his own company Direct to Market.
Matt is going to lead on the sales development plan, and help execute on our sales strategy.
29. 28
Salahuddin Belal
Sal is currently a lead developer with the company Rapid Mind Solutions team in Saint
John, New Brunswick. He received his education from the University of New Brunswick with a
Bachelor of Science in Engineering. His previous employers include NB power as he worked at
Point Lepreau. Sal will be our lead developer on the technical back on. Sal has the technical
expertise
Jason Richard
Jason Richard is the current owner and operator of two local companies in Saint John.
He runs the online property management company Props to Go, and runs Rapid Mind Solutions
Inc. Jason has experience working on web and database development. He received his
education from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in Science in Data Analysis.
Jason sees himself as the lead developer, and he will be working with our architect to
determine how the system should be developed.
Operational Plan
The Operational plan for E-Ceipts consists of initial plans that will consistently be revised
as we move forward. Our business will be headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick,
Canada. Our current preferred location would be leased with a cost of $12/sq. ft./year. The
location we are going to occupy has office space of 1500 square feet with an additional
available space of 2485 square feet for expansion as needed. Also available is 2500 additional
square feet on the floor above. Needed leasehold improvements will be negotiated with the
landlord, but the planned space has been operated as business offices before so they will be
minimal.
Our location will be centrally located in the uptown core of Saint John. We choose to be
located in the uptown core for those reasons but also the strength of the ICT industry that is
based and healthy in Saint John. This will give us access to highly qualified collaborators and
employees as well as exposure within the industry. In addition, the workforce generally has a
high level of education, many are bilingual and we have a stable workforce with less movement
of employees, which will help overall costs. Saint John and New Brunswick as a whole offer
30. 29
very favorable tax schemes, high quality of life, relatively low cost of living and excellent
technical infrastructure.
We will be using workstations and cubicles with some main offices and reception. Each
workstation will have a thin client, monitor, keyboard, mouse, chair, storage and desk.
Workstations will be virtualized desktops using the storage and processing of the server array.
We will facilitate telecommuting of our employees as appropriate by implementing work from
home policies and the technology to allow it to happen. This will include proper telephony and
VPN access to our network and the functions they need. Based on the role of the employee,
their allowable permissions will give them full use of the applications needed to perform their
duties.
We already have access to the suppliers we need to move forward through the
management team and their existing businesses such as Direct to Market. Matt Doherty will be
able to leverage his existing suppliers and relationships to keep initial expenditure costs low
and controlled as well as provide lease financing if necessary. Main supplies needed would
consist of computers, furniture, office supplies, software, server technology and security.
The Human Resources plan will constantly be revised as needs arise and growth occurs.
Initially we will be operating with minimal staff and will employ the expertise of consultants as
needed. The management team will conduct initial work. Once we enter the beta testing
phase we will start implementing the Customer Service and Sales Departments. Once we hit
the launch phase, our hours of operation will be from 8am-9pm Monday-Friday with staggered
shifts to allow for different time zones and our clients operating hours. Initial launch will occur
in Atlantic Standard time zone. As we expand beyond those time zones we will add staff as
necessary.
A committee consisting of Christina, Jason and Matt will run initial Human Resources.
Their combined expertise covers all aspects of the Human Resources needs. Once we
experience the growth of employees, as expected, then we will address the issue by either
outsourcing the HR function or hiring an HR manager.
E-Ceipts will require some highly specialized roles within our organizations. We will
have a development team, quality assurance, sales & marketing, graphic design, technical
support, customer service, and management. Our management team will fill these roles
initially. Once the commercial application is built then we will hire the appropriate people to fill
31. 30
these roles and transition to training and overall management as we grow. The most important
roles in phase 1 (building commercial software application) will be development and quality
assurance. As we move towards the live launch (phase 2), sales and marketing, graphic design,
customer service and technical support become more important to implement our "go to
market" strategy.
Our timeline is dependent on development and quality assurance achieving a working
proto-type. We anticipate that will take six. Once there is a working proto-type, we will still be
faced with further development, testing and tweaking. Once the proto-type is developed, we
will be searching for an early adopter to stage a controlled live testing environment. In
conjunction with them, we will be implementing a capacity controlled rollout to allow for
further testing and quality assurance. Throughout these phases we will be building the back-
end structure and processes to ensure secure transmission elimination of any glitches.
Development Plan
Starting at the beginning of January 2012 we will turn our focus on developing our
commercial application. This process will involve a research and development phase that
includes researching the integration process of the existing POS systems, designing and building
a data warehouse, and linking the POS system to central database. To help us with the
engineering of the integration of the POS components and to help us become partners with the
major POS companies we reached out for assistance to the Association of Retail Technology
Standards (ARTS), who helped created the industry standards for electronic receipts. We will
hire Richard Halter, the top engineer who created the industry standard for electronic receipts,
as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to implement our integration component.
Our R&D phase will also include running a test pilot operation at several single
businesses, such as a Co-op grocery store, or a small local business with enough traffic to give
us proper analysis. Also during this time we will be upgrading our web portal and the
development of our smart phone applications so it will be ready for commercial use. Our E-
Ceipts team will conduct this work internally.
While our R&D phase is taking place we will also be commencing our sales strategy, and
our target will be to add on existing large enterprise chains. Our sales team will carry out the
32. 31
strategy to sign up these retailers. Upon the commercial roll out one of our main goals will be
to obtain a national presence by signing up two contracts with major retailers in North America
as this would help build our brand reputation in the early stages when presenting to other
companies. Our plan is to have one major retailer signed up with us for commercial activity
within 6 months of our starting fiscal year.
In the early stages, we will be walking a fine line as we are attracting businesses to sign
up with us, while at the same time there will be few customers actually using our product as a
replacement for their receipts. One of the challenges we will face is letting our paying
customers know that it will take time to take full advantage of the value added benefits of our
product such as the full release of our marketing data reports. Also during this period we will
focus on optimizing the core operation of the purchase/storage/exchange process, while on the
back end on our server we will be laying the foundation to take full advantage of the data
mining process, which is slated to launch in our second fiscal year.
In the year 2013 we expect our business to have gained recognition with the general
public. E-Ceipts will have gained more acceptance as a sensible alternative to the paper option.
While our previous sales model had focused entirely on going out and signing up customers, we
will deploy an easy method for small business paying customers to sign up directly with us by
visiting our website. By providing details through a questionnaire, we will automatically be able
to determine whether or not the customer’s POS software is compatible. If it passes customers
should be able to install the software on their own without help. The customer will be able to
learn about the changes they need to know directly from our website through a video tutorial.
In 2013 E-Ceipts will develop an international sales team, designed to obtain retailers
beyond the North American borders. We will increase our promotional expenditures that will
include television, radio, and Internet ads.
33. 32
Legal
One of the important necessities is ensuring that our process method for sending and
storing electronic receipts does not infringe on any other company’s IP. In order to compete
and protect ourselves we will acquire intellectual property necessary. Currently we have
secured a licensing arrangement with IBM in regards to Patent# 7,797,192: Point of Sale
Electronic Receipts Generation. The license agreement involves an upfront fee, and a royalty of
1 percent of electronic receipt generation revenue. (See Appendix)
The E-Ceipts logo will be trademarked so that no other companies can use it without
direct permission from our company. The logo will be widely seen, as our paying customers will
have it on display, so that their customers know our services are available. Our Internet
domain name (www.eceipts.ca) is already property of E-Ceipts and is automatically renewed
each year.
Currently E-Ceipts owns the web domain www.eceipts.ca. While this will work fine while
we operate in Canada, when the company begins to offer its electronic receipts in the US we
will need www.eceipts.com. We have a tentative agreement in place with Andrew Dunkman,
who is the current owner of the web domain. He has agreed to sell the domain to our company
for $3500 US. Currently the web domain is not being used for any purpose.
Users will sign a privacy statement upon first use of the service to confirm that we can
collect their purchasing information and store it for marketing research. It will indicate that
their identity will be protected, unless we ask for direct permission to use their name in
promotional activities. However, E-Ceipts will have the right to use their age, gender, race,
location, and spending habits and patterns.
E-Ceipts will also have the right to track what products our “Free to Use” customers are
purchasing from our “Pays to Use” customers. We will have the right to use and combine all of
this data, in any fashion we see fit. This can include, but is not limited to, spending habits,
spending trends and increases or decreases in spending on particular product segments. These
spending trends and patterns will be made available to our “Pay to Use” customers in the form
of monthly marketing reports. We also reserve the right to release or sell this data to other
third parties, outside of our customer base. E-Ceipts will also not be responsible for any lost or
stolen data.
34. 33
Electronic Receipts
Electronic record keeping is not new. It has been in existence for some time. However,
the Canada Revenue Agency did anticipate that the use of electronic record keeping would
increase. In June 2005 the CRA release official documentation regarding electronic records,
which includes electronic receipts. For the purposes of businesses claiming expenses the CRA
does allow the use of electronic receipts in place of paper. After speaking with Jeff Totton, the
CRA Electronic Commerce Audit Specialist in Saint John, he said the most important aspect that
the CRA looks for is that the receipt was the “original” that was produced from the point of
sale. He says it does not matter whether the copy is printed or stored electronically as long as
the receipts are readable in the CRA’s specified format.
For the purposes of auditing the electronic receipts will need to be stored for six years.
Security
Both consumers and businesses will actually benefit from not producing paper
transactions. Instead of having purchasing information on loose pieces of paper, this
information will now be stored on E-Ceipts servers. Only two parties will have access to this
information. These groups will solely be our “Free to Use” and “Pays to Use” customers.
When a customer makes a return, the only thing that will be required to return the
product is their E-Ceipts’ barcode that will be on their smart phone or key chain ID. Since that
there is no information on the physical key chain pertaining to what was purchased, the only
person who will know what information is on the E-Ceipts key chain ID is the original buyer. So
if in the event that this key chain was lost or stolen, the key chain would be deemed useless. If
someone attempted to find out what was on the key chain ID by going to www.eceipts.ca, the
individual would not get past the login screen, as the user account will be protected by their
own username and password. This protection would rule out the possibility of identity theft or
to attempt to obtain a refund on products that were never purchased by that individual. If a
store manager wishes to confirm the identity of the ID holder, they can ask for the user number
underneath the barcode, call our toll-free number at 1-888-ECEIPTS, and the telephone
representative would be able to identify the user. Also users will be able to report lost or stolen
IDs through our toll-free number, mobile application, or on our website. We will mail out a new
ID to the user, and transfer all transaction data on to the new E-Ceipts barcode—free of charge.
35. 34
Financial Plan
The financial forecast for E-ceipts spans a five-year period. It includes a six-month period
for a research and development phase where we expect no revenue during that time, and then
we move into 4.5 years of projected revenue and costs. The numbers on the financial
statements are slated to begin 2012. The commencement of developing our commercial
application is set for June 2012. The total amount that we are looking to raise so we can begin
our research and development phase is $750,000. To raise this we will seek out investors who
have a vested interest with innovation in retail.
The five-year projections starting in 2012 are based on the assumption that we have
already raised our initial capital, which we have placed as our opening balance in year one. At
the end of our first year we expect to run a loss of approximately $249,000. This is due to the
initial costs of our R&D and start up. Also we account for the consumer adoption period it will
take to adapt to the new system. Total revenue for our first year will be an estimated $148,000.
In 2013 we expect to decrease our annual loss to $49,000. We also expect to hit our
break-even point by the month of October. By this time we expect to have between seven to
and North American retailers signed up with us, which will significantly increase our revenue.
Our small business revenue will be minor in comparison as we do realize that this segment will
take time to grow. Also during this year we expect to deploy our monthly Marketing Report
Subscriptions. We expect this to generate revenue of approximately $82,000 in the first year,
but we expect this to grow significantly.
In the year 2014 we project that we will sign on several other enterprise companies, and
more small businesses, resulting in higher revenue for this year. This will result in our first
profitable year ending with a profit of $249,000.
In the year 2015 our expected income will jump to $1.3 million, and in year five we will
reach $3.3 million. Over one fifth of the revenue will be coming from electronic receipt
advertising, and our customer marketing data reporting.
Due to being a new service that is unfamiliar to the world we recognize that in our first
two will experience slow growth. Our product will require an intense sales strategy that
involves physically going out and selling the product to retailers to push this pioneering
product. We are confident that we can convince the world that the time has come to evolve to
this new way of commerce, and begin “adding dollars with sense”.
36. Assumptions
Appendix A1
Fiscal Year Ending December 31
Staff Salaries Staff on Hand
Job Title Salaries Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Technical Support 24000 2 3 4
Developer 65000 2 2 0
Graphic Designer 35000 1 1 1
Architect 40000 1 0 0
Sales Representative 36000 1 2 2
Quality Assurance 42000 1 1 2
Total Employed each Year 8 9 9
Software Purchased
Package Cost Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
SQL Server Standard 595 3 1 0 4
Visual Studio Test Professional 2899 1 0 1 2
Visual Studio Professional with MDSN 1609 1 2 0 3
Microsoft Office Professional 2010 400 5 3 2 10
Windows 7 Professional 300 5 5 2 12
Visio Premium 2010 1000 1 0 0 1
Adobe Flash CS5 750 1 1 0 2
Adobe Photoshop CS5 695 1 1 0 2
Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 500 1 1 0 2
Hardware Purchased
Item Cost Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
Computer 1500 6 6 3 15
Chair 130 6 6 3 15
Desks 200 5 1 1 7
Monthly Expenses Total Users
Utilities and Services Cost Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Bank Account 10 N/A N/A N/A
Supplies 30 N/A N/A N/A
Heat + Lights 250 N/A N/A N/A
Phone and Internet Bundle 150 N/A N/A N/A
BMC IT Service Support for the Midsized Business (formerly Magic) 79 user 1 3 4
Version1 Project Management Membership 36 user 6 12 16
Amortization
Chairs and Desks Flat Line: 36 Months
Computer Hardware Flat Line: 36 Months
