Why we built Merlin
How Merlin began — from the operational patterns we found while talking with business owners, to the decision to build one system connecting every business process.
Written
The more we talked with business owners, the more often we found similar patterns.
Even across different lines of business, the operational challenges they faced were often similar.
Some used several apps at once. The till ran in one place, the online store in another, while bookkeeping used yet another app. Every process could run on its own, but the data and the flow weren't always connected.
Some already used a single till app. But over time we realized the number of apps wasn't the deciding factor. Data between branches still wasn't properly synced, activity history was hard to trace across a shift change, and some processes were still done manually.
From that, one simple question emerged:
What would a system look like that could run business operations in one connected flow?
That question became Merlin's starting point.
From there we started imagining a system that wouldn't just connect different apps, but bring business operations together in one place.
What is Merlin?
Merlin is a system that combines an online store, a point-of-sale till, and business operations into one platform.
Instead of connecting several standalone apps, Merlin runs on one source of data, so sales, stock, team activity, and daily operations all run in the same flow.
Some of what's already available today:
Online store — product catalogue, cart, checkout, and payment.
Point of sale — in-store transactions recorded on the same system.
Multi-location — data stays synced across branches.
Store operations — activity logging, stock opname, and an audit trail.
Flexible product management — supports variants like size and color, as well as products sold by unit, such as meters, kilograms, or liters.
Merlin is already live and keeps being developed in stages. The journey of building it is still ongoing.
About this journal
This journal is where we document the process of building Merlin.
We'll share architecture decisions, implementation challenges, experiments, and lessons learned while building this product.
Category: Think
More entries
Why we rebuilt a variant grid already running in production
Merlin's admin variant grid had passed development and was running in production, until one complaint from real use got it completely rebuilt within hours.
Why Merlin changed from single-tenant to multi-tenant
An architecture decision that felt final turned out to rest on a business assumption. Once the assumption changed, the decision deserved a second look.
Why Merlin's storefront was built with Astro
An online store is only useful if people can find it. That constraint decided the tool I used to build Merlin's storefront.