Implementation proposal
TAFCO’s
member shop.
Rupert and Bruce, here’s how a member can order feed after the counter closes, and how your team can put it through Merlin the next morning.
Member deliveries ↗
Friday runPorepunkah & Bright
The complete package
From product list
to first orders.
Tim will build the catalogue for all 350 products, create the site’s imagery and video, and work with your team to verify account orders in Merlin. The $18,200 + GST fee includes the build, staff training and the first month of support.
See the scope and payment scheduleFor Rupert Shaw
From the member’s phone
to the weekday folder.
A member in Bright gets home after the counter closes and needs their usual dog food. Here’s how that order could reach the Myrtleford team before the next run.
Illustrative member order
Dog food · 20 kg
One bag for a verified member in Bright.
At the order desk
The member pays through Shopify Payments. Staff match the paid order in Merlin, pick the bag at Myrtleford and tell the member when it’s ready to collect.
What the team will run
Which day does each area get delivery?
All members get free delivery on their assigned regional run, whether they pay by card or charge to account.
- Daily
- Myrtleford
- Tuesday
- Whorouly and King Valley
- Wednesday
- Beechworth and Mudgegonga
- Thursday
- Kiewa Valley
- Friday
- Porepunkah and Bright
Operations confirms locality boundaries, cut-offs, holidays and product restrictions. Staff print the slip and file it by weekday. The driver chooses the stop sequence.
Who prepares the 350 product pages?
TAFCO selects the range and identifies its authorised supplier sources. Tim gathers the available data for all 350 products, including by scraping supplier pages where permitted. He uses it to populate descriptions, specifications, pack sizes, variants and images, then sends the office a list of missing or conflicting details to confirm.
Tanks, fencing bundles, cattle crushes and custom gate combinations keep a phone enquiry.
What imagery and video will Tim create?
Tim creates imagery and video for the shop. Product and category visuals can help members recognise their usual supplies. A short ordering walkthrough can show a member where to choose Myrtleford pickup or check their next delivery day.
The existing community website continues to carry local news and links members to the shop. A wider move can be reviewed with Kerry and Stones Throw later.
How will we know the shop helps?
Before launch, count ordering calls on the day before a run and time a sample of phone orders. One experiment for the first month is to show Bright members their Friday delivery date beside the Myrtleford pickup option and see whether fewer people call to change their choice.
At the end of the month, compare ordering calls, after-hours orders and staff corrections on the same route days. Your team can repeat the comparison at 90 days. Track additional sales separately from time saved on repeat orders.
For Bruce Hore
Trace an order
all the way into Merlin.
Before members can charge to account, you and the accounts operator will trace a Shopify order to the matching Merlin entry, check the due date and confirm a retry posts it only once.
Observed in the prototype
Stock updates
On 9 November the Cobalt Retail for TAFCO connector showed stock activity. Shopify had no orders, and Shopify Payments onboarding was incomplete.
Still to demonstrate
Account posting
We need an authorised unpaid order, the corresponding debtor entry and a safe replay. You reported a ten-minute default sync and a frozen sync menu. The office needs a way to spot a missed order and recover it safely.
The evidence to review
Post an unpaid order to the right debtor
Use a designated approved account. Compare the Shopify reference, unpaid tender, amount and debtor identifier with the Merlin entry after acceptance. Finance checks the EOM + NET30 due date using examples on either side of month end.
Finance signs off when it sees one receivable on the correct account, with the expected due date and no card charge.
Catch a held or ambiguous account
Try a held account and a member whose contact details have changed. Staff must be able to resolve or reject the order in Merlin. An uncertain match must never create a debt against someone else’s account.
Reconcile a paid order and a reversal
Place a controlled card order and compare the Shopify payment, imported tender, total and stock in Merlin. Trace a card cancellation to its refund. Separately reverse an unpaid account order and confirm no cash refund is issued.
Recover a stalled sync without a second charge
With Merlin, identify the last good sync, find a delayed order and recover it using the supported procedure. Replay the same reference. Finance must see exactly one posting, and the office needs a way to recognise a stuck order and escalate it.
Who owns each record?
- Shopify
- Member storefront, online orders, card payments and product collections.
- Merlin Cobalt
- SKU, price, stock, POS, debtor approval, payment terms and ledger.
- Agree with the office
- Image and description ownership, fulfilment notices, safe retry and escalation. Test that a routine sync preserves an approved product edit.
For Rupert & Bruce · Investment
The cost to launch.
One complete package covers the 350-product shop, imagery and video, Merlin validation and a full month of support and storefront experiments after launch.
Complete package
$18,200
Australian dollars · excluding GST
Payment schedule
- 50% upfront
- $9,100
- 25% on delivery of the completed shop
- $4,550
- 25% after the included month of support ends and TAFCO is happy with the handover
- $4,550
What the fee covers
All four items are included in the package. The amounts show how the project fee is allocated.
- Merlin account testing and validation record
- $3,000
- Store design, imagery, video and catalogue preparation for all 350 products
- $6,100
- Member checkout, delivery and pickup
- $4,000
- Testing, training, launch and one month of support and optimisation
- $5,100
Assumptions and third-party costs
TAFCO confirms the product range, authorised sources and any gaps Tim flags. Shopify plan and payment fees, a paid theme, Merlin vendor work, and any app or hosting charges are separate. We’ll quote substantial data repairs or bespoke middleware before adding them.
Delivery plan
Three to four weeks to launch
The target starts at kickoff and depends on access to Merlin, catalogue inputs and TAFCO’s feedback.
- Week 1
Validate and design
Bruce coordinates the Merlin test. Rupert shares brand assets, the product list and authorised sources. Tim starts the catalogue and shop design.
- Week 2
Build and review
Tim prepares the product pages, imagery and video. TAFCO reviews the working shop, confirms missing product details and checks the delivery routes.
- Weeks 3–4
Practise and launch
Finance and operations sign off. Sonder trains up to three staff, supplies a desk guide and coordinates the release.
- First month after launch
Support the team
We’ll review real orders with staff, fix defects in the agreed build and hand over the escalation contacts and experiment results.
One month of self-healing website support
- What we’ll test
- Throughout the first month, we’ll run a continuous series of storefront experiments. We’ll look at whether members find the right pack from search, understand pickup and delivery days, and complete checkout.
- Who approves an upgrade?
- You can review each proposed improvement and its results before it goes live. If TAFCO explicitly enables automatic upgrades, the website can apply improvements within the storefront areas you approve.
- At the end of the month
- We’ll show Rupert and Bruce what changed, what the results suggest and which questions are still open. Any further support or experiments are agreed separately.
Project kickoff
Ready to build the member shop?
Rupert and Bruce can confirm the package with Tim and agree a kickoff date. Bring the product shortlist, supplier sources and Merlin test contact to the first session.