The connected store
Your store
doesn’t operate alone.
Where the signal breaks
Everyone holds part of the same transaction.
| Already knows | Cannot see | |
|---|---|---|
| Retailer | what actually sold, and to whom | what is coming, and when |
| Distributor | what was shipped and to which route | what moved off the shelf afterwards |
| Supplier | what was produced and dispatched | where it ended up sitting |
| Brand | what was sold into the trade | what a customer picked up |
| Customer | what they wanted | whether anyone upstream heard it |
Four businesses working hard on the same transaction, none of them seeing all of it.
The model
Connect your store to the commerce around it.
MarCat creates the layer through which retailers and the businesses around them can become more connected. The retailer connection runs today. The other three are drawn, specified and not yet in service, and the board says so.
MarCat
The layer the connections run through.
Retailer
LiveRuns the store.
Supplier
BuiltSupplies the goods.
Distributor
BuiltMoves goods to the store.
Brand
BuiltMakes what sells.
- Retailer
- Runs the store.
- Supplier
- Supplies the goods.
- Distributor
- Moves goods to the store.
- Brand
- Makes what sells.
One store is a business.
Connected stores become infrastructure.
MarCat starts with the individual store. The store becomes connected. Connected businesses create a clearer picture of commerce. That visibility can unlock better coordination across the ecosystem.
That’s the direction we’re building toward.
How we think this works
The network is the foundation. Services are the business.
A network nobody can afford to join is not a network. So the participation layer has to stay free enough to be worth joining, and the money has to come from the places where MarCat creates something genuinely additional on top.
The core network
Give businesses a reason to participate.
- A store identity that belongs to the retailer
- The operating layer needed to run the business
- The connection itself, between businesses that already work together
- The retailer's own data, portable out again
The services on top
Charge where we create additional value.
- Deeper operating tools for larger and multi-counter stores
- Procurement and inventory intelligence
- Systems for the distributor side of the connection
- Shelf-level visibility for brands that want it
- Whatever coordination turns out to be worth paying for
This is how we intend the model to work, not a list of products you can buy today. The only thing available now is the store.