Canadian online transaction processing and e-commerce company SureFire Commerce
Inc. signed a letter of intent to acquire Stumpworld Systems Inc. and its online
shopping portal, BuyItOnline.com, and its store creation
software platform, Online Merchant.
SureFire Commerce said it will issue 13.5 million shares in
payment for the shares of Stumpworld, which marks the deal at roughly U.S.$45.6 million.
Established in 1993, Stumpworld specializes in enabling businesses and retail
merchants to sell their goods and services online. BuyItOnline.com caters to
a mass market of small- and medium-sized merchants.
The site features
proprietary consolidation and deconsolidation functions allowing customers to
shop at multiple independent stores in a single shopping session using a
single shopping cart.
BuyItOnline.com currently hosts more than 200 individual stores and says it
has hundreds of additional merchants queued to come online.
“This acquisition is the final phase of the implementation of our corporate
strategy of offering true end-to-end e-commerce solutions to small- and
medium-sized merchants, and is a first major step toward the proliferation of
our presence into the United States,” said Rory Olson, president and CEO of
SureFire Commerce.
As a result of the transaction, SureFire said it expects to earn revenue from
software sales, monthly hosting fees from merchants, a percentage of gross
sales from each store, as well as fees from merchants using the proprietary
online coop advertising, couponing and affiliate marketing programs.
“The synergies between the two companies from a product, services and
management perspective create a formidable global force in the e-commerce
enabling space,” said Michael Clebnik, CEO of Stumpworld.
SureFire offers businesses end-to-end electronic commerce solutions using
proprietary technology in the areas of transaction processing and merchant
enabling.