Why I Built MyMarketOrders

My wife and I opened a boutique in Chattanooga, Tennessee in early 2025. Neither of us had a background in retail or the apparel industry, so there was a steep learning curve. But one thing stuck out to me almost immediately — the sheer volume of manual data entry, and how archaic the industry seemed when it came to technology.

I come from an operations and continuous improvement background. I also have a software company that specializes in AI and automation for small businesses. So when I see an inefficient process, it's hard to look the other way — and this felt like a perfect problem to try to solve.

The first time we went to Atlanta Market, we had no idea what to expect. We'd been warned it would be crazy and hectic. We got advice on how to stay organized and how to enter orders as quickly as possible when we got back.

One of the buying coordinators helping us gave us a tip: get your wholesale orders into your POS as fast as you can. It helps you see your open purchase orders, know what's coming, and plan your cash flow.

Good advice. But here's the problem.

The Math Gets Ugly Fast

That first market, we were buying for 3-4 months of the following season. We met with 20-25 vendors. Each vendor ships on different dates, so one brand might turn into three or four separate orders — one per ship month.

Twenty-five vendors. Multiple ship dates each. Suddenly you're looking at 60, 70, maybe 80 purchase orders to enter.

And for each order, you have to create the items: style numbers, descriptions, colors, sizes, costs, retail prices. Then create the purchase order itself. Then do it again. And again.

That first market, I'd estimate we spent 20-30 hours on data entry alone. Just typing things into our POS that already existed in a spreadsheet somewhere.

It Never Stops

Here's the thing — it's not just market. There are multiple markets per year, plus fill-in orders along the way. We're entering purchase orders every month.

And every brand does it differently. Some use Joor. Some use NuOrder. Some hand you a carbon copy sheet. Others send emails. We also order from Faire throughout the year.

So you're constantly context-switching between platforms, formats, and processes. It's a mess.

The Real Cost

The hours are painful enough. But there's another problem: errors.

When you're manually entering hundreds of line items, mistakes happen. You misspell a style name. You forget a size. You enter the wrong cost. You leave an entire item off the order.

And it's always harder to fix those mistakes after the fact than to get it right the first time.

Meanwhile, every hour spent on data entry is an hour not spent with customers, not spent on marketing, not spent training staff — or just not spent at home with family.

In 2026, with the technology available, there's no reason we should be doing this manually. And given the economic uncertainty right now, most boutiques can't afford to hire staff just to do administrative work.

So I Built It

I told my wife there had to be a better way. With my background in operations and software, I decided to build the tool I wished existed.

That's MyMarketOrders.

It takes the exports from Joor, NuOrder, and Faire — the spreadsheets you already have — and turns them into purchase orders in your POS. You upload the file, review and edit the items, and import. What used to take hours takes minutes.

And this is just the beginning. We're still building — working on more automation, connecting directly into these wholesale platforms, and making the whole process even smoother. If you're tired of manual data entry, I'd love for you to try it and come along for the ride.