# Farmers-Market Marketplace — Product Planning Meeting

**Date:** July 30, 2026  
**Time:** 10:00–11:00 a.m. ET  
**Location:** Zoom  
**Facilitator:** Maya Chen  
**Note-taker:** Jordan Patel

## Attendees

- Maya Chen — Product Manager
- Jordan Patel — Operations Lead
- Elena García — Vendor Partnerships
- Noah Williams — Engineering Lead
- Priya Shah — UX Designer
- Liam O’Connor — Marketing
- Sam Brooks — Customer Support
- Rachel Kim — Market Manager, Riverside Farmers’ Market

## Agenda

1. Review marketplace pilot goals
2. Confirm vendor onboarding requirements
3. Discuss pickup, delivery, and order cutoffs
4. Define fees and vendor payouts
5. Prioritize launch features
6. Assign pilot-launch actions

## Discussion Notes

### Pilot scope

- The initial pilot will include Riverside Farmers’ Market and approximately 20 vendors.
- Service will launch with Saturday pickup only; delivery will be considered after the first month.
- The team expects 150–250 weekly orders during the pilot.
- Vendors need a simple way to update inventory because quantities can change quickly due to weather and harvest conditions.

### Vendor onboarding

- Vendors will provide business details, product categories, payout information, pickup availability, and required permits or certifications.
- Elena recommended a guided onboarding call for the first cohort instead of relying solely on self-service setup.
- Rachel noted that several vendors have limited time and may complete onboarding from a phone.
- Product listings should support unit types such as item, bunch, basket, pound, and dozen.

### Ordering and fulfillment

- Customers may place orders until Thursday at 8:00 p.m. for Saturday pickup.
- Vendors must confirm final quantities by Friday at noon.
- Orders will be grouped by vendor for packing, then consolidated at a staffed pickup table.
- Customers will select a 30-minute pickup window during checkout.
- Substitutions will be disabled during the pilot. Unavailable items will be refunded automatically.
- The team will test reminder messages on Friday evening and two hours before the selected pickup window.

### Fees and payouts

- The proposed customer service fee is 5% per order.
- Vendors will pay an 8% marketplace commission during the pilot.
- Vendor payouts will be issued every Tuesday for the previous Saturday’s fulfilled orders.
- Refunds submitted before payout will be deducted from that cycle; later refunds will be deducted from the next payout.
- Fee language must be shown clearly before vendors agree to participate.

### Launch features

- Required: vendor profiles, product listings, inventory limits, cart and checkout, pickup-window selection, order notifications, refunds, and payout reporting.
- Deferred: delivery routing, subscriptions, loyalty points, customer reviews, and cross-market inventory.
- Customer Support requested an order-status view and the ability to resend pickup instructions.
- Engineering flagged split payments, taxes, and weight-based final pricing as the highest-risk areas.

## Decisions

- Launch a four-week pilot at Riverside Farmers’ Market with a target of 20 vendors.
- Offer Saturday pickup only during the pilot.
- Set the weekly customer order cutoff at Thursday, 8:00 p.m. ET.
- Require vendors to confirm inventory by Friday at noon ET.
- Charge customers a 5% service fee and vendors an 8% commission.
- Issue vendor payouts weekly on Tuesdays.
- Disable substitutions; refund unavailable items automatically.
- Support fixed-price products at launch. Products priced by final measured weight are deferred.
- Use 30-minute pickup windows with capacity limits.
- Provide assisted onboarding for all pilot vendors.
- Review delivery expansion only after pilot performance and fulfillment data are available.

## Action Items

- **Maya:** Finalize the pilot success metrics and launch checklist by August 4.
- **Elena:** Confirm participation with 20 vendors and collect required documentation by August 8.
- **Rachel:** Map the pickup-table layout and identify storage and refrigeration constraints by August 5.
- **Priya:** Deliver mobile onboarding and checkout prototypes by August 6.
- **Noah:** Confirm the implementation approach for taxes, split payouts, inventory locking, and automatic refunds by August 5.
- **Jordan:** Draft the Saturday fulfillment playbook, including vendor drop-off and missed-pickup procedures, by August 7.
- **Liam:** Prepare customer launch messaging and market signage by August 12.
- **Sam:** Create support macros for cancellations, refunds, missing items, and pickup questions by August 12.
- **Maya and Elena:** Review vendor fee disclosures with legal counsel by August 7.
- **Team:** Hold a pilot readiness review on August 13 at 10:00 a.m. ET.

## Open Questions

- How should the marketplace handle orders that customers do not collect?
- What pickup-window capacity can the market support without creating lines?
- Which product categories require special tax treatment?
- Should vendors be allowed to pause their storefront after the weekly cutoff?
- What minimum order value, if any, should apply after the pilot?