Market Research Gaps — Master Registry
Source: Two independent gap analyses performed against US retail plant nursery market research and competitor landscape (Square, Lightspeed, Shopify POS, Rapid Garden POS, Sunfire, Epicor Propello, POS Nation, KORONA, RetailEdge).
Status of this document: All 28 gaps are Open — pending decision. This document tracks gaps; it does not resolve them. Each gap will be reviewed and either accepted (becomes scope), rejected (becomes out-of-scope), or deferred (assigned to a future version).
Doc discipline: When a gap moves from Open → Accepted/Rejected/Deferred, update this file's status column AND update the relevant module spec, PROJECT_DECISIONS.md, ROADMAP.md, OUT_OF_SCOPE.md, and other docs per CLAUDE.md doc update rules.
Status legend
- Open — Identified but no decision made
- Under Review — Discussion in progress
- Accepted — Will be built; module specs and roadmap updated
- Deferred — Postponed to a future version; roadmap updated
- Rejected — Out of scope; OUT_OF_SCOPE.md updated
Gap Registry
| # | Gap | Research source | Affected modules | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shopify/Woo/Wix ecommerce sync | Top-6 pain point — Shopify POS sync failures; 130+ outages since 2025 | 04 Purchasing, 10 Admin | Deferred (v1.5+) — Reliable Shopify sync is multi-month work; v1.0 tenants can manual CSV-sync. Native connectors ship v1.5+ with Enterprise UI. |
| 2 | Weather-tied inventory AI forecasting | #1 named AI use case across research; explicitly deferred in Module 6 Out-of-Scope | 01 Inventory, 06 Reporting | Deferred (v1.2) — Builds on Purchasing AI reorder forecasting (Module 4 Group 8). Couple with v1.2 full Purchasing launch. |
| 3 | Production Module 7 scope (122 features) | Research explicitly says "Defer or be cautious about: Highly specialized greenhouse production planning" — wholesale/grower territory | 07 Production | Accepted — Trimmed to 41 retail-scale features in v1.0; 55 features deferred to v1.2, 26 features deferred to v1.5. See ROADMAP v1.2/v1.5 and docs/modules/07_production.md Deferred section. |
| 4 | Job costing / landscaping module | Research's higher-tier differentiator #4; 20% of target nursery revenue from contractor services | 03 Orders, 05 CRM | Deferred (v1.5) — Meaningful module addition (jobs as first-class objects). Ships with Enterprise launch in v1.5. |
| 5 | Starter 200-SKU cap mismatch | Research target nursery has 800–3,000 SKUs; current Starter cap forces immediate upgrade | 01 Inventory | Accepted — Cap raised to unlimited SKUs; user/site/zone remain capped at 1 each. Users is the natural upgrade gate to Pro. |
| 6 | True offline-first capability | ARCHITECTURE.md locks 60-sec buffer; research lists Shopify outages as top-7 pain point; Rapid/KORONA market offline as differentiator | 02 POS | Accepted — POS-only true offline-first; 60-sec buffer for other modules. See ARCHITECTURE.md "Offline-First Resolution". |
| 7 | Unified AI copilot UX | Research's #6.3 gap — AI copilot for nursery owners | 10 Admin, 06 Reporting | Deferred (v1.5) — AI copilot needs broad operational data history. Revisit at v1.5 with year of multi-tenant signal. |
| 8 | Sustainability/eco-attributes reporting | Plant care attributes exist in Inventory 1.4; reporting + marketing layers now added | 06 Reporting, 05 CRM | Accepted — Reporting 3.13 (Sustainability dashboard) + CRM 11.13 (Sustainability-tagged campaign templates). Leverages existing attribute data. |
| 9 | Kit-BOM (kits as inventory records) | Rapid markets kitting for combo planters, hanging baskets, gift baskets | 01 Inventory, 02 POS | Accepted — New Inventory Group 27 "Kits & Bundles (Kit-BOM)" with 5 features (27.1–27.5); POS 10.13 references atomic component deduction. Inventory count 89 → 94. |
| 10 | Workshops as sellable items | Square case study (Dig Gardens) names workshops as a need; no event/workshop primitive yet | 02 POS, 03 Orders | Deferred (v1.2) — Workshops need event/capacity/attendee primitives. Bundle with v1.2 Production-light (shared scheduling). |
| 11 | QB Desktop / Sage / Sage Intacct / Xero | Plan covers QBO only; mid-market integrations expected | 10 Admin | Deferred (v1.5) — Sage, Sage Intacct, Xero ship with Enterprise UI in v1.5. QB Desktop direct sync is Rejected (CSV export only). |
| 12 | Plant taxonomy database size | Plan stated 10K+; Sunfire markets 38K+ NetPS | 01 Inventory | Accepted — Target 30K+ cultivars at v1.0 via licensed third-party + USDA PLANTS. Inventory 13.1 + PROJECT_DECISIONS Tech Stack updated. |
| 13 | UV-stable/weatherproof tag substrate | Sunfire markets specialty tag substrate | 01 Inventory | Rejected — Vendor concern (tag stock), not software. Documented in customer help docs. |
| 14 | AI staff training assistant | Research mentions Garden Expert AI for staff training | 10 Admin | Deferred (v1.2) — Follows AI copilot pattern; needs multi-tenant data anchor. v1.2 AI expansion bundle. |
| 15 | AI markdown optimization | Overstock/dead stock pain; manual sale scheduling only | 01 Inventory, 06 Reporting | Deferred (v1.2) — Bundle with weather-tied (#2) and nursery-pretrained AI (#16). |
| 16 | Pre-trained on nursery seasonality (AI moat) | Real moat if executed | 06 Reporting | Deferred (v1.5) — Needs year of multi-tenant operational data for RAG corpus. |
| 17 | Per-terminal pricing model | KORONA pattern $50/terminal | 11 Billing | Rejected — Flat tier pricing locked in PROJECT_DECISIONS. Add-on subscriptions (Billing Group 13) cover terminal-heavy tenants. |
| 18 | Sandbox / forever-free dev account | Research recommends sandbox tier | 11 Billing | Deferred (v1.2) — Useful for consultants/integrators when API surface stabilizes. |
| 19 | Rugged hardware support documentation | Outdoor garden centers need weatherproof tablets/scanners | 02 POS, 10 Admin | Rejected — Hardware recommendations belong in help docs, not module specs. |
| 20 | Workforce management integrations (Gusto/ADP/Deputy) | Built-in scheduling + payroll CSV export covers v1.0 | 10 Admin | Deferred (v1.5) — Integrations matter for Enterprise; ship with Enterprise launch. |
| 21 | App ecosystem / third-party marketplace | Enterprise API ships v1.5; no marketplace yet | 10 Admin | Deferred (v2.0) — Marketplace is multi-quarter platform commitment. Enterprise API in v1.5 is the precursor. |
| 22 | Season as first-class variant axis | Currently handled via pricing schedules and out-of-season flags | 01 Inventory | Rejected — Schema complexity for no operational gain. Pricing schedules + flags suffice. |
| 23 | Hyper-local product-level reorder (without weather) | Reorder thresholds are static; AI reorder lacks local weather input | 01 Inventory, 04 Purchasing | Deferred (v1.2) — Couples with Gap #2 weather-tied. Same v1.2 bundle. |
| 24 | Opinionated answer-dashboards vs BI toolkit | v1.0 Reporting is BI-lite + standard reports | 06 Reporting | Deferred (v1.2) — Curated nursery-specific dashboards are additive; don't displace BI toolkit. |
| 25 | AI marketing copilot (suggested segments/copy/timing) | Plumbing exists; no AI suggestion UX yet | 05 CRM, 13 Notifications | Deferred (v1.2) — Part of v1.2 AI expansion bundle (with #14, #15, #16). |
| 26 | Price optimization / markdown guidance | Aging reports + manual scheduling only; no decision support | 01 Inventory, 02 POS, 06 Reporting | Deferred (v1.2) — Part of v1.2 AI markdown bundle (same as #15). Decision support at POS and Reporting. |
| 27 | Named migration playbooks (QB POS, Square, Lightspeed) | QuickBooks POS sunset (2023) forced rushed migrations; plan has CSV import but no named guided migration flows | 01 Inventory, 10 Admin | Accepted (partial) — Picas import in v1.1 with guided migration playbook; other migration playbooks (QB POS, Square, Lightspeed) remain Open. |
| 28 | Pesticide/chemical compliance | Niche regulatory hint; Production trimmed in PASS 9 | 07 Production | Deferred (v1.5) — Ships with full grower features in v1.5 (REI tracking, applicator license, state records). |
Related Documents
- Module spec files contain a "Gaps Identified" section listing the gaps that affect each module
- PROJECT_DECISIONS.md "Open Gaps from Market Research" section references this registry
- CLAUDE.md references this registry as a source of pending decisions for CC sessions