Rod and Martha Nelson started The Moose Hut (TMH), a gift shop in Calgary, Alberta, more than 15 years ago. The Nelsons have capitalized on the tourist trade drawn by the Calgary Stampede, which is one of the largest rodeos in the world. The shop sells a wide range of Canadian-themed items to rodeo fans and other tourists who visit central Alberta throughout the year. TMH’s offerings range from inexpensive food items, such as pure Canadian maple syrup and smoked salmon, to much more expensive handcrafted gifts, including Inuit and First Nations artwork. The company’s trademark product, the Moose Mug, is one of its biggest-selling items.

Many of TMH’s customers return to the store whenever they visit Calgary. TMH’s line of Canada Day Party Favours is especially popular with homesick Canadians who have moved to other countries, and TMH has been selling those products by mail order for the past several years. After reviewing the sales numbers for these mail order items, Martha has decided that it might be a good idea to expand the mail order operation and begin accepting orders through a Web site. Many of the store’s items have a high value-to-weight ratio and would be easy to ship to customers around the world.

TMH currently accepts only checks denominated in Canadian or U.S. currency in its mail order operation; however, taking orders on a Web site will probably require the company to be more flexible in accepting multiple payment methods. Rod and Martha asked you to help them examine payment processing alternatives for TMH’s new Web business.

To be acceptable, a payment processing method needs to handle all major credit cards, perform currency conversions, and be available to a Canadian merchant. Most important is that the payment processing method must be reasonably priced. The margins on most gift items at TMH are between 10 percent and 30 percent of the selling price, but the extra costs of shipping and handling items sold through the Web site reduce those margins by another 5–10 percent of the selling price. TMH would like to keep overall payment processing costs below 4 percent of the selling price, if possible.

REQUIRED:
1. Using the Web Links for this case, identify at least three payment processing options that might be suitable for TMH. Write a report of about 400 words in which you describe each of the three payment processing options. Include specific advantages and disadvantages for each option. Prepare a one-page memorandum in which you make a specific recommendation to Rod and Martha. Include an explanation of the reasons for your recommendation.

2. Rod and Martha have heard about digital cash products such as Bitcoin and are thinking about accepting Bitcoins or some other digital cash from customers in person and online. Using your favorite search engine or the resources of your library, research this possibility and summarize your findings in a report of about 100 words addressed to Rod and Martha. In your report, outline the advantages and disadvantages to TMH of accepting one or more digital cash products as payments. Conclude your report with a recommendation based on your analysis.

3. During the Calgary Stampede, Rod and Martha rent booth space near the event and sell their products to event attendees. In the past, they have only made cash sales, because the electricity supply is not reliable in the both area and their credit card reader needs electric power to operate. They believe they might be losing sales because customers cannot use their credit cards. Using your favorite search engine or the resources of your library, investigate portable credit card reader products, such as Square, that Rod and Martha might use to increase their sales at the booth. In about 100 words, summarize your findings and make a recommendation to Rod and Martha.