Retail engineering when ecommerce and stores stop talking to each other
Omnichannel ops tools, inventory sync, store staff apps, returns management. Senior engineer on subscription with Imohub-scale catalog experience. $3,499/mo.
Who this is for
Ops or digital director at a $10M to $100M omnichannel retailer where ecommerce and store operations run on different systems with broken inventory sync.
The pain today
- Ecommerce and store ops live in different systems
- Inventory sync is broken, leading to overselling or hidden stock
- Returns are handled inconsistently across channels
- Store staff tools are paper or email
- No unified customer view across channels
The outcome you get
- Custom retail ops app on subscription at $3,499/mo
- Inventory sync, returns, or store-ops tool in 8 to 14 weeks
- POS and ERP integration with clean sync patterns
- Imohub-scale performance discipline (sub-500ms queries at 100k+ records)
- Unified customer view across channels
Where omnichannel retail breaks
Three common failures. Inventory: ecommerce shows 10 units available when stores hold 2 and online has 8, but the sync lags so customers oversell. Returns: online order returned in-store requires manual policy lookup and customer goodwill; customer waits. Customer view: store staff cannot see a customer's online history when the customer is standing in front of them. Each is fixable with better systems plumbing — usually integration work rather than platform replacement. For $10M+ retailers, fixing these saves measurable revenue and margin.
Common apps I build
Inventory sync dashboards (real-time visibility across ecommerce, stores, warehouses). Returns management (cross-channel policy, RMA generation, refund automation). Store staff tools (clienteling, locate inventory across stores, custom orders). Unified customer profiles (purchase history across channels, preferences, service notes). Staff training and ops dashboards. Returns and warranty workflow. Each is 6 to 14 weeks of work. Most retailers need two or three of these, built in sequence over 6 to 12 months of subscription.
POS and ERP integrations
Shopify POS, Square for Retail, Lightspeed, NCR Counterpoint — each has APIs. ERPs: NetSuite, Oracle Retail, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage. Integration pattern: ERP and POS sync inventory to a central source of truth (either ERP or a dedicated inventory management system like Cin7 or Stitch Labs). Custom apps read from and write to the central system. At bolttech I ran integration work against 40+ providers — same discipline applies, with retail-specific data models.
Pricing and engagement model
Standard $3,499/mo. Pro $4,500/mo. For retailers with heavy integration work (multiple POS instances, ERP, inventory management), Pro during initial build. 14-day money-back guarantee. Cancel anytime. 100 percent code ownership under Work Made for Hire. Hosting scales with store count and transaction volume — typically $500 to $2,000/mo at mid-market scale. For retailers with 20+ stores, hosting architecture includes regional CDN and potentially regional application servers.
Case: Imohub — catalog and search at scale
At Imohub I rebuilt a real estate portal with 120,000+ properties, sub-500ms query response, 70 percent infrastructure cost reduction, top three Google rankings. Stack: Next.js, React, Laravel, MongoDB, Meilisearch, AWS, Docker. The performance discipline transfers directly to retail ops — large catalog, fast search, fast browse, responsive internal tools. Every mid-to-large retail engagement I run inherits the Imohub patterns — dedicated search engines (Meilisearch, Algolia), aggressive caching, fast internal dashboards.
When a retail platform (Shopify POS, Lightspeed) is enough
For retailers under $5M in revenue with simple omnichannel needs, Shopify POS + Shopify Online handle most things out of the box. For under $20M with moderately complex needs, Lightspeed Retail or Shopify POS Pro handles most cases. Custom work pays back when platform limits block growth — unique inventory logic, complex returns policy, multi-entity retail groups, specialty categories. My target is mid-market retailers ($10M to $100M) where custom engineering materially affects ops efficiency. For smaller operators, platform configuration is usually the better call.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
Rebuilt a real estate portal at a fraction of the cost
Rebuilt Imóveis SC's real estate portal as ImoHub — a faster, more scalable successor — handling 120k+ properties with sub-second search and drastically reduced AWS costs.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- How do you handle inventory sync?
- Central inventory management system (Cin7, Stitch Labs, Shopify's inventory, or a custom service) becomes the source of truth. POS, ecommerce, and marketplaces all write to and read from the central system. Near-real-time sync for high-SKU-turnover SKUs; batch sync for slower movers. Overselling protection through allocation reservations at order creation. For retailers with 5+ stores, inventory sync architecture is usually the single highest-ROI custom work.
- Can you handle cross-channel returns?
- Yes. Unified RMA workflow regardless of where the return starts (online, store, call centre). Returns policy engine handles rules per product, SKU, channel, and customer tier. Refunds route through the original payment method where possible, with store credit or gift card as fallback. Store staff tools show order history and status regardless of purchase channel. Typical build: 4 to 6 weeks for solid cross-channel returns.
- How does the app work for store staff?
- Responsive web app works on store tablets (iPads, Android) without requiring native app deployment. Staff log in with RFID/barcode badges or standard credentials. Common use cases: look up customer history, locate inventory across stores, process special orders, handle returns. For stores with slow WiFi, PWA with offline-tolerant caching for common lookups. Native mobile apps are rarely needed for staff — responsive web is enough.
- Can you integrate with our ERP?
- Yes. NetSuite, Oracle Retail, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage, SAP — all have integration paths of varying quality. For modern API-first ERPs, direct integration. For legacy ERPs (older Oracle, older SAP), middleware (Celigo, Boomi, MuleSoft) or structured file integration. Budget 6 to 10 weeks for initial ERP integration; longer for complex legacy setups. Integration patterns from bolttech's 40+ provider work apply.
- How do you handle scale during peak shopping?
- Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday peaks can be 5x to 10x normal traffic. Architecture: CDN edge caching for browse and product pages, database read-replicas for load distribution, queue-based order processing, horizontal scaling on API tier. Load testing before the first major peak. For retailers with big-moment exposure, we pre-scale hosting and run dry-runs. Infrastructure flexes with load; post-peak scales back to normal cost.
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