Retail operations that close themselves
Multi-store retail runs on the gaps between systems — storefront, warehouse, accounting, carriers — and every gap is filled with re-keying, drift and month-end heroics. We automate the flow across the tools you already use, so people handle judgment and the system handles the rest.
Systems we build in retail & e-commerce
The common thread: one source of truth per fact, automation for the routine, an explicit queue for the exceptions. A representative list, not a boundary — if the system you need isn't on it, we build that too.
Order-to-cash automation
One flow from storefront to ledger — order capture, stock check, fulfilment, invoicing and write-back — across the systems you already run, with human checkpoints on exceptions only.
Inventory sync across stores
Stock levels reconciled across storefronts, warehouses and physical locations in near-real time — so you stop overselling online what just sold at the counter.
Storefront & marketplace integrations
Storefronts, marketplaces, carriers and accounting joined through one integration layer — retries, monitoring and an audit trail included, so a failed webhook never becomes a lost order.
Warehouse & fulfilment tools
Pick lists, packing flows and carrier handoff built around how your warehouse actually moves — not around what a generic WMS assumed.
Exception queues
Price mismatches, failed payments, address problems and stock conflicts routed to one queue where people apply judgment — instead of re-keying the routine 95%.
Reconciliation & reporting
Payments, refunds, marketplace fees and ledger entries matched automatically, with the differences — and only the differences — surfaced for review.
Where the money leaks
The diagnosis phase prices these in hours and error rates — before we propose building anything.
Re-keyed orders
Every order typed from the storefront into the ERP, then into the carrier portal, is payroll spent on copy-paste — and every re-type is a chance to get it wrong.
Inventory drift
When stock truth lives in three systems, the gaps become oversells, cancellations and refunds. The cost shows up as support tickets and marketplace penalties, not as a line item.
Month-end reconciliation
Days of matching payouts, fees and refunds across processors and marketplaces — work a system should do continuously, leaving people the genuine discrepancies.
Exceptions buried in inboxes
The orders that need a human decision sit in shared mailboxes next to the ones that don't. Both wait. Customers notice.
The same four phases, sequenced around your season
Diagnose, estimate, build, operate — with milestone planning that respects the retail calendar. You can stop after any phase and keep everything.
See the full process →- 1Diagnose the flow, not the tools
We map an order's actual path — storefront to ledger — and price the manual work in hours before proposing anything.
About this phase → - 2Estimate against a metric
Cycle time, error rate, FTE-hours redeployed — the number the system will be accountable to is named in the estimate.
About this phase → - 3Build around your peak
Milestones sequenced so nothing risky lands in your high season. Working software from week two, demos every Friday.
About this phase → - 4Operate through the spikes
Monitoring, retries and alerting tuned for order volume that arrives in bursts — plus a 90-day warranty on everything shipped.
About this phase →
Order-to-cash automated across four systems and eleven stores
Storefront, warehouse, accounting and logistics share one automated flow; humans handle exceptions only — a small fraction of order volume. Selling a product online instead? See how a publisher turned manual design into a compose-to-doorstep platform with integrated print-shop APIs.
Read the case study →Common questions
Which platforms do you integrate with?
The ones you already run — storefronts, marketplaces, ERPs, accounting packages, carrier APIs. We build around your stack rather than proposing a migration first; replacing a system has to earn its place in the estimate.
Do we have to replace our existing systems?
Usually not. Most retail engagements are integration and automation across tools that individually work fine — the leak is between them. Where a system genuinely has to go, we replace it incrementally, not big-bang.
What happens during peak season?
We plan the milestone calendar around it. Risky cutovers don't land in November; monitoring and load behaviour are proven on staging against realistic volumes before anything touches production.
How do exceptions get handled once the flow is automated?
Through an explicit queue with rules you set — price mismatch thresholds, payment flags, address confidence. People see only the orders that need judgment, with the context to decide attached. Nothing silently auto-resolves that shouldn't.
How long until we see a result?
Working software reaches you in week two; the first automated segment of the flow is typically in production within the first milestone. In our retail order-to-cash study, payback was measured in months, not years.
Which engagement model fits retail work?
Bounded automations fit per-project; groups with a longer operations roadmap fit a dedicated team. The diagnosis will recommend one — it's free either way.
How many people re-key orders in your operation?
The diagnosis session is free — we'll price the manual work in hours and tell you honestly what's worth automating.