For Adam Knight, Gary Waters · from Gregory Lalonde · November 2026 · Confidential

Taking Gary Waters online

A five-stage plan. Worth doing, and worth doing with eyes open.

The plan

Five stages. Each one is its own decision.

Clean catalog

Every order you place becomes a clean product record.

Nov to Dec

ThreadCloud only

One system

Your store and website run on one till and one stock count.

Jan to Feb

$4k to $7k equipment

Build the store

Photos, website and packaging, ready before launch.

Feb to Apr

~$27,500 setup

Launch in Canada

The site opens. Sales start small and build.

Spring, years 1 to 2

~$30k of early losses

Grow

Online pays for itself and becomes a real part of the business.

Years 3 to 5

Pays for itself

Stage 1 costs nothing extra. Go or wait at every stage after that.

Why now

Waiting costs money too

+$249k

Start now

Online profit, all in, by year 5.

+$130k

Wait one year

Same plan, a year later.

+$24k

Wait two years

Barely past payback by year 5.

Base case. Every order you place from now on can build the online catalog for free.

Proof

Blazer sells about $650k a year online

Growth

$416k (2023) → $695k (2025)

Share of sales

About 1 dollar in 7

Busiest

Nov and Dec: a third of the year

Blazer for Men, monthly online sales, Aug 2022 to Sep 2026. Highlighted: Nov and Dec.

Eyes open

What Blazer learned

It's seasonal. Sale events drive the big months.
It's slow. Years to build, after ten years on Shopify.
It can slip. This year is running a little below last.
It's a second business. Photos, shipping, returns, marketing, every week.

Stage 1 of 5 · Clean catalog

Every order you place becomes a clean product record.

Clean catalog, with ThreadCloud

When

Starts November 6

Costs

ThreadCloud only

Changes in store

Nothing. Counterpoint stays.

Every order you place becomes a purchase order and a finished product page.
By spring, your online catalog is already built.

Stage 2 of 5 · One system

Your store and website run on one till and one stock count.

One system: the till moves to Shopify

When

January or February

Costs

$4k to $7k equipment, two registers

Who leads it

Shopify's own team

List what you'd miss from Counterpoint.
Move customers and gift cards.
Count stock once.
Train and run both for a week or two.
Switch. Keep Counterpoint for history.

Per register: iPad and stand, card reader, receipt printer, scanner, cash drawer (~$1,700). Plus one tag printer. Shopify POS Pro ~$120 a month. Approximate.

Stage 3 of 5 · Build the store

Photos, website and packaging, ready before launch.

Build the store: about $27,500

Photography of current stock	$12,500
Website design and theme	$8,500
Launch marketing	$3,000
Packaging	$2,500
Shipping station	$1,000

Range $13,000 to $57,000. Straight Goods Studio will quote the photography.

Stage 4 of 5 · Launch in Canada

The site opens. Sales start small and build.

Launch in Canada. Expect losses at first.

First months

About -$3,300 a month

Pays its way

From about month 15

US later

Duties make it its own project

People	Hours a week	Who
Year 1	~12	Current staff, trained
Year 2	~21	Part-time online person
Year 3	30 to 40	Full-time coordinator

Training is yours to arrange. Someone also owns marketing and the photo schedule.

The cash

Plan on about $57,000

Slow Base Strong

Lowest at month 14. Paid back by month 32 to 40.

Stage 5 of 5 · Grow

Online pays for itself and becomes a real part of the business.

Grow. Year 4 looks like Blazer today.

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Online sales
Slow	$105k	$270k	$360k	$380k	$416k
Base	$105k	$270k	$510k	$692k	$752k
Strong	$105k	$270k	$660k	$1,012k	$1,102k
Online profit, after all costs
Slow	-$29k	$14k	$33k	$38k	$45k
Base	-$29k	$14k	$66k	$106k	$119k
Strong	-$29k	$14k	$99k	$176k	$196k

Base case reaches about $65k a month by year 5. Profit is online's own, after all costs.

What moves it

How you spend matters most

$39k

Lean

Brand photos, ads only once they work.

$57k

Base

This plan.

$122k

Heavy

Ads too early, every product reshot.

Cash needed at the low point, same sales.

Before you commit

Six questions to answer

Can the store carry ~$57k over fourteen months?
Which brands allow online sales?
What would you miss from Counterpoint?
Who runs online day to day?
Who owns marketing?
Returns policy: exchange first, or free returns?

November 6: stage 1 starts

Bring one real order. We'll turn it into a purchase order and product pages together.

Notes

How the numbers were built

Estimates in Canadian dollars, for planning. Refined with your data and the studio quote.
Assumes a $250 average order, 48% margin, one in five returned, marketing at 12% of sales. Blazer's average order is about $400, so these lean cautious.
Not included: ThreadCloud's fee, stock bought only for online, your own time, stage 2 equipment.
"Waiting" runs the same plan starting one or two years later, measured at the same point five years from now.
Blazer figures: actual Shopify online orders, net of refunds, before tax. Shared in confidence.