Our spending behaviour is evolving. In fact, for most of us, card payments are the norm and cash has become outdated. However, whilst we are on the way to becoming a cashless society, paper receipts are still everywhere. That is exactly what Alexandre Marquet, Christoph Bruckner and Jaime Blasco are trying to tackle with their brand-new product TiQuest. Their mission? To make Luxembourg the first country in the world without paper receipts. Keep reading to learn more!
by: Joséphine Anselin
photo: Kaori Anne Jolliffe
featured: Christoph Bruckner and Alexandre Marquet
Listen to article
What is TiQuest and which solutions do you offer?
TiQuest is a solution that focuses on digitizing paper receipts. It includes a plug-n-play hardware device and a mobile app. Compared to similar products currently available in the market, TiQuest is simpler, more user-friendly and digital.
Who is the product targeted at? Businesses or consumers?
Both! TiQuest is a B2B2C solution.
On one hand, we enable shops and restaurants to eliminate paper receipts and gain business insights that can help them increase their profits. This is done through our hardware device which is incredibly easy for businesses to deploy. There are no complex set-ups, POS changes or software modifications involved. Once the device is installed, it collects receipt data and displays it on a dashboard real-time.
Our mobile app, on the other hand, allows consumers to instantly receive receipts on their mobile phones as soon as a transaction is completed.
“The hardware collects all receipt data and displays it onto a dashboard accessible from any tablet or smartphone.”
You’ve just announced the launch of your product in Luxembourg. Does this include the B2B and B2C solutions?
Consumers can only receive digital receipts via the TiQuest app if our device is being used by the store or restaurant where the payment is being made. This is why we need to deploy the B2B solution before launching our customer-facing app.
Today – on the 10th of February – we are only launching our B2B solution. The B2C app will go live at the latter half of 2020.
What are the benefits restaurants and shops can gain from using TiQuest?
Most restaurants and small businesses do not have the time, budget or expertise required to manage and extract value from their payments data in real-time. We make it super easy for them to do that.
Once the TiQuest device is plugged in, the hardware collects all receipt data and displays it onto a dashboard accessible from any tablet or smartphone. The real-time information displayed gives businesses valuable insights which they can then use to increase their sales and profit.
Businesses who use TiQuest are also reducing their impact on the environment by contributing towards the reduction of paper usage.
“In terms of product development and testing, we’ve taken an agile approach which involved co-creating the solution with restaurants in the Italian market.”
What was the rationale behind creating a hardware product rather than an app?
We did consider a 100% software-based solution. However, we decided against it because the software would’ve had to be adapted to each point of sales system. A hardware solution on the other hand is universal.
Through our market research, we also realised that it can be difficult to convince shops and restaurants to install a third-party software onto their own point of sales system. A hardware device offers a more transparent solution because it is completely independent and can be unplugged at any time.
How did you go about developing the product? Did you outsource any parts of the process?
Within our team, we have strong product design, software development and hardware engineering expertise so outsourcing was never something we considered. The only piece we are not doing in-house is hardware manufacturing.
In terms of product development and testing, we’ve taken an agile approach which involved co-creating the solution with restaurants in the Italian market. By collaborating with businesses in Italy, we’ve been able to develop a product that meets the exact needs of our target customers.
Although our solution is universal, we’re planning on taking a similar collaborative approach for our Luxembourg launch. We’ll be offering our hardware for free to a 100 restaurants and stores in Luxembourg who are interested in becoming our beta testers. Learn more about this opportunity, click here.
“Our first priority is to develop a strong network of small businesses, stores and restaurants who use TiQuest here in Luxembourg.”
What are your goals for 2020?
In 2020, our focus will be on deploying our solution in the Luxembourg market. Our first priority is to develop a strong network of small businesses, stores and restaurants who use TiQuest here in Luxembourg. A second key objective will be to have everything in place for our B2C app’s Q3 launch.
Where can one learn more about TiQuest?
You can visit the TiQuest website at www.tiquest.eu. And if you are a shop or restaurant in Luxembourg, sign up here to try out our solution for free.
