True North Vape Shop - Enterprise eCommerce Rollout
As the IT Project & Launch Manager, in this Enterprise eCommerce Rollout for True North Vape Shop, discover how I orchestrated the rapid expansion of a 10-store pilot into a unified 48-location omnichannel network. By decoupling development pipelines and applying active risk management, I recommended a phased launch that protected the original pilot timeline while the remaining 38 locations were absorbed in structured sprints as third-party payment bottlenecks cleared.
A High-Stakes Expansion Mid-Flight
True North Vape Shop originally engaged us for a 10-store pilot to modernize their digital presence and omnichannel fulfillment workflows. However, midway through the implementation, the client acquired a competitor, suddenly expanding the project scope to a 48-location national network. This represented a massive 380% scope increase within the exact same 6-month delivery window.
The core technical challenge was ensuring a zero-downtime integration with their legacy Lightspeed POS infrastructure across 38 new locations, while strictly adhering to complex, regional Canadian vaping compliance regulations.
Scope & Schedule Re-Architecture
Expanding from 10 to 48 locations required tearing down and rebuilding the entire project schedule, SoW, and Jira board without halting the current development momentum.
Complex Stakeholder Alignment
Harmonizing the overarching strategic vision of the executive team with the tactical realities of the operational leads required highly active communication and expectation management.
Asynchronous Infrastructure Readiness
Integrating 48 distinct physical locations meant navigating staggered onboarding schedules for their enterprise POS inventory syncs and the Merrco payment gateway.
Inverted Content Dependencies
The external SEO strategy dictated that the site infrastructure be live and indexed prior to final content deployment, creating a unique sequencing challenge for the design pipeline.
My Approach: Strict Governance & Applied AI
To prevent the timeline from fracturing under the new scope, I transitioned the team into a strict “Critical Path” delivery model:
Agile Scope Containment: Applied active risk management and structured Change Request frameworks. I acted as the “Technical Translator” between the client’s executive board and our internal engineering pods, ensuring the 38 additional locations were mapped into distinct sprint phases without burning out the developers.
Cross-Functional Pod Leadership: Facilitated daily stand-ups across Strategy, UX, Development, and QA teams. My primary daily objective was identifying technical blockers (like POS sync failures) and ruthlessly unblocking the engineering team.
AI-Automated Workflow Optimization: To handle the massive influx of project data from the scope expansion, I engineered and deployed a custom ChatGPT/LLM agent. This agent automatically synthesized meeting transcripts, daily stand-up notes, and sprint progress into executive status reports, eliminating administrative drag.
The Results: Phased Delivery at Scale
48 Locations Successfully Launched: Protected the original Phase 1 launch timeline for the initial 10-location pilot, then absorbed the remaining 38 locations in structured sprints once Merrco payment onboarding and Cova POS sync was complete across all sites – zero disruption to existing retail operations throughout.
100% Core Features Delivered: Delivered all critical omnichannel features required for the national rollout while maintaining strict adherence to the revised project budget.
- Cova POS (Inventory Sync)
- CanFleet (Delivery Management)
- Merrco / Payfirma (Payment Processing)
- Figma (Prototyping)
- Jira (Project Mgmt)
- Asana (Project Mgmt)
Decoupled Development
Engineered the site infrastructure to progress independently of external content dependencies, ensuring internal momentum was maintained.
Omnichannel Fulfillment
Orchestrated the software configurations required to support complex fulfillment workflows, including real-time inventory syncing, local delivery, and 'Click & Collect' in-store pickup.
RAID Governance
Implemented strict change control protocols to document the 380% scope expansion, mitigating risks and maintaining a single source of truth for all stakeholders.
The Spotlight Feature: Asynchronous Delivery Pipeline
The Problem
Traditional linear development was not viable due to staggered third-party deliverables. We needed to finalize the front-end UI without final SEO content, and test transactional logic while multiple locations were still finalizing their Merrco payment onboarding.
The Execution
Instead of pausing the project to wait for alignment, I decoupled the design and development workstreams. We built a robust, dynamic structural shell capable of handling delayed data injection. I separated the QA process into distinct logic tests, verifying site architecture and e-commerce routing independently of the live production data.
The Win
This asynchronous approach mitigated the external schedule risks entirely. This protected the original Phase 1 pilot timeline. The full 48-location network was completed once staggered third-party onboarding cleared across all sites - delivering the fully scalable digital infrastructure the client required.
Business Impact
The simultaneous 48-location launch eliminated fragmented POS data silos, instantly streamlining their nationwide inventory management and establishing a unified digital revenue channel.
