Status note (2026-05-13): Significant refresh. Several original questions are now answered; new questions surfaced during the v0 scope discussion. The list below has been rewritten for current state.
Open Questions
Answered (kept for context)
- Who is customer zero? — Global Music Imports (GMI). See
customer-zero-profile.md. - Is cross-retailer supplier overlap high enough to support a shared layer? — Yes. AU brands have single exclusive distributors; retailers stocking the same brand share the same source.
- What's the load-bearing design model? — Layered canonical + transformation. See
../decisions/0001-layered-canonical-model.md. - Is APIC a meaningful competitor? — No. See
../landscape/apic.md.
Open and prioritised for v0 / pre-v0
- What's the v0 facet set per category? Likely 10–20 facets across the v0 categories. Curation workstream.
- Who decides canonical facet values? Initially us, with supplier/retailer input over time. AI-assisted suggestions, human approval. Operational governance shape still TBD.
- What's the transformation editor's UX shape? Form-based, expression-based, or JSON-config. Platform repo concern but affects user-facing complexity.
- What's the bootstrap cost for curation? Person-days to go from zero to "credible facet coverage on the v0 categories." Not blocking software v0; blocking presentable v0.
Open and deferred until v0 evidence exists
- What's the pricing / commercial model? (H4)
- What level of API capability do real consumers actually use first? Demand-shaped, not designed.
- Which retailer systems beyond Cin7 + Shopify + MusiPOS need first-class transformation profiles? Evidence-driven.
Open and depending on external signal
- Will suppliers participate in a centralised platform? (H3) APIC supplier meeting (week of 2026-05-12) is the next material signal. Individual-retailer supplier behaviour is positive; centralised-platform supplier posture is the unknown.
- Do typical retailers' output preferences (Cin7-shape, Shopify-shape, MusiPOS-shape) absorb cleanly into transformation configs, or do edge cases force canonical-layer changes? Answered by v0 build evidence.