Chapter 22: Phase 2 - Full Product

Goal

Complete the feature set required for the Growth tier ($79/mo). Phase 2 transforms the basic Phase 1 app into a product that merchants can configure, customize, and rely on without manual intervention. By the end of Phase 2, AdPriority supports seasonal automation, a configurable rules engine, bulk operations, a dashboard with analytics, and reliable error handling.

Timeline: 3-4 weeks

Feature Set

Seasonal Automation

The seasonal automation system is the primary differentiator between the Starter and Growth tiers. It automatically adjusts product priorities when the calendar crosses a season boundary.

Components:

Transition process:

SEASONAL TRANSITION
===================

  Hourly cron job checks:
    Is today's date in a different season than yesterday?
         |
    NO --+--> No action
         |
    YES -+--> Begin transition
              |
              v
         1. Log transition event
              |
              v
         2. Fetch all products for this store
              |
              v
         3. For each product (not manually locked):
            a. Look up new seasonal priority
            b. Compare with current priority
            c. If different: update, log change
              |
              v
         4. Queue Google Sheet sync
              |
              v
         5. Send notification email
              |
              v
         6. Log completion to sync_logs

Transition safeguards:

• Manually locked products are never changed
• A dry-run mode previews changes without applying them
• Transitions log every individual product change to audit_logs
• A rollback option reverts the transition within 24 hours

Configurable Rules Engine

Phase 1 delivers hardcoded category rules based on the Nexus Clothing mapping. Phase 2 replaces these with a merchant-configurable rules engine accessible through the UI.

Rule types:

Rule builder UI:

The rule builder uses Polaris form components within a modal or dedicated page:

CREATE RULE
===========

  Name:        [Holiday Valentine Boost_______]
  Description: [Boost Valentine's products____]

  Conditions (ALL must match):
  +------------------------------------------+
  | Field         | Operator   | Value        |
  |---------------|------------|--------------|
  | tag           | contains   | valentine25  |
  | product_type  | starts_with| Men-Tops     |
  +------------------------------------------+
  [+ Add Condition]

  Priority:    [5 - Push Hard v]

  Schedule:
  ( ) Always active
  (*) Date range: [Feb 1] to [Feb 14]

  [Cancel]  [Preview (47 match)]  [Save]

Rule evaluation:

• Rules are evaluated in the order specified by the merchant (drag-to-reorder)
• The first matching rule wins (no cascading)
• Tag modifiers are applied after the winning rule
• Manual overrides always take precedence

Bulk Operations

Bulk operations allow merchants to act on many products at once from the Products list screen.

Bulk operation flow:

BULK OPERATION
==============

  1. Merchant selects products (checkboxes in IndexTable)
         |
         v
  2. Clicks bulk action button (e.g., "Set Priority")
         |
         v
  3. Modal opens: select priority, enter reason
         |
         v
  4. Confirmation: "Update 47 products to Priority 5?"
         |
         v
  5. POST /api/products/bulk-update
     { productIds: [...], priority: 5, reason: "Holiday promo" }
         |
         v
  6. Backend processes in transaction:
     a. Update products table
     b. Write audit_logs entries
     c. Set needs_sync = true
         |
         v
  7. Queue Sheet sync job
         |
         v
  8. Return result: { updated: 47, errors: 0 }
         |
         v
  9. UI refreshes product list, shows success toast

For large selections (500+ products), the operation runs as a background job with a progress indicator rather than a blocking API call.

Dashboard Analytics

Phase 2 delivers the full dashboard described in Chapter 17, covering:

• Priority distribution pie chart
• Sync status indicators
• Quick stats (total products, needs attention, new arrivals)
• Activity feed (recent changes, syncs, errors)
• Seasonal transition countdown

The Pro tier analytics (ROAS by priority, Google Ads performance) remain deferred to Phase 3.

Category Management UI

A dedicated screen for managing category groups, replacing the hardcoded JSON configuration from Phase 1.

Features:

• List all category groups with member product types
• Add, edit, and delete category groups
• Assign product types to groups (autocomplete from the store’s actual types)
• Set default priority per group
• Visual indicator of ungrouped product types (types that exist in the catalog but do not belong to any group)

Sync Monitoring

An operational view showing the health and history of Google Sheet synchronization.

Components:

Error Handling

Phase 2 hardens error handling across all integration points.

Beta Testing

Beta Program

Phase 2 concludes with a beta program: 5 merchants test the app in a real-world setting.

Beta merchant criteria:

Beta recruitment:

• Approach through Shopify merchant communities
• Offer free Growth tier access for 60 days
• Require weekly feedback survey completion
• Collect quantitative data (ROAS before/after)

Beta Feedback Areas

Iteration Based on Feedback

Allow 1 week between beta start and App Store submission for iteration. Common adjustments based on beta feedback:

Timeline

PHASE 2 TIMELINE
================

  Week 1:
    - Seasonal automation engine (backend)
    - Season transition scheduler
    - Season calendar UI

  Week 2:
    - Rules engine (backend CRUD + evaluation)
    - Rule builder UI
    - Category management UI

  Week 3:
    - Bulk operations (backend + UI)
    - Dashboard (distribution chart, sync status, stats, activity)
    - Sync monitoring UI
    - Error handling hardening

  Week 4:
    - Beta merchant onboarding (5 stores)
    - Bug fixes based on beta feedback
    - Performance optimization
    - Documentation for beta merchants

Deliverables