A common brief: “build a bot that takes orders.” In practice a tight loop ships; a kitchen-sink bot stalls for months and never reaches production.
What belongs in a working MVP
- Catalog or a short priced list with availability
- Cart and a one-message order confirmation
- Invoice, pay link, or “manager will call”
- Alert to a staff chat with line items and contact details
What can wait
Loyalty programs, heavy analytics, “just in case” i18n, and a ten-role admin panel. Add those after real orders show where friction sits.
Ops beat chrome
Decide who owns disputed orders, how payment is recorded, and what cancellation means. The bot is a channel. If the chat process is messy, automation only accelerates the mess.