Website Build Scope and Plan
A new WordPress and WooCommerce website with live C9 DMS integration, keeping C9's Genuine Parts Finder at the heart of the parts experience.
Mainline Cycles is a family owned Kawasaki, Yamaha and Beta dealership that has serviced the Latrobe Valley for over 30 years. The business sells new bikes, parts, riding gear and accessories, and runs a full service workshop with roadworthies, tyre fitting and in-house dyno tuning.
The current website runs on C9's hosted platform. This project replaces it with a modern WordPress and WooCommerce site that Mainline owns and controls, while staying connected to C9 for products, stock, pricing and the Genuine Parts Finder.
A fast, mobile-first store for parts, gear and accessories with live stock and pricing pulled from C9.
No double handling. Products, stock and prices are managed in C9 and flow to the website automatically.
Clear service pages, online booking enquiries and new bike showcases built to rank in local search.
C9's OEM parts fiche (hotspotted diagrams, real-time price and availability, orders straight into C9 point of sale) is retained and integrated into the new site. We will not rebuild it in WooCommerce. It will be styled and linked so customers move seamlessly between the new store and the parts finder.
C9 stays the system of record. A custom sync plugin on the WordPress site pulls catalogue and stock data from C9's two export APIs and keeps WooCommerce up to date. The Genuine Parts Finder continues to run on C9 and is embedded or linked from the new site.
| Component | Technology | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Content management | WordPress (latest) | Pages, service content, blog, SEO |
| Ecommerce | WooCommerce | Product catalogue, cart, checkout, customer accounts |
| C9 integration | Custom Genesis FX plugin, Action Scheduler, WP-CLI | Product import, stock and price sync, order handling |
| Parts lookup | C9 Genuine Parts Finder | OEM diagrams and parts ordering into C9 POS |
| Payments | Stripe and/or PayPal (manual capture) | Reserve funds at checkout, capture after order is vetted |
| Shipping | Australia Post, flat rate tables, click and collect | Freight calculation and in-store pickup |
| Hosting | Managed WordPress hosting (AU data centre) | Performance, backups, staging, SSL, object caching |
| Analytics | GA4, Google Search Console, Merchant Center | Tracking, ecommerce reporting, Google Shopping |
Final structure will be confirmed in discovery once we know the C9 category data and SKU count.
| Job | Source | Frequency | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalogue import | Google Merchant API | Nightly (plus manual) | Creates and updates products: title, description, images, price, brand, category. Images downloaded once and cached. |
| Stock and price sync | Stock API | Every 15 minutes | Updates quantity and price by SKU in batches. Only changed records are written. |
| Missing SKU check | Both | Nightly | SKUs no longer in C9 are set to out of stock and hidden, never deleted. |
| Order handling | WooCommerce | On each order | Pushed to C9 via API if available. Otherwise emailed to staff in a C9-ready format for entry. |
| Health check | Plugin | Every run | Logs results and emails an alert if a sync fails or returns no data. |
| C9 field | Source API | WooCommerce field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| sku / id | Both | SKU | Primary key across all syncs |
| title | Merchant | Product name | Editable overrides kept in WordPress |
| description | Merchant | Product description | Sanitised HTML |
| image_link | Merchant | Featured image | Converted to WebP, deduplicated |
| additional_image_link | Merchant | Gallery | If supplied by C9 |
| price / sale_price | Stock + Merchant | Regular / sale price | Stock API wins on conflict (fresher) |
| qty | Stock | Stock quantity | Managed stock on, backorders off |
| brand | Merchant | Brand taxonomy | To be confirmed in feed |
| product_type | Merchant | Product categories | Mapping table agreed in discovery |
| item_group_id, size, colour | Merchant | Variable product and attributes | If absent, sizes import as simple products |
| gtin / mpn | Merchant | GTIN / MPN meta | Used for Google Shopping |
The Parts Finder continues to run on C9's platform, so OEM diagrams, real-time availability and orders into C9 POS keep working exactly as they do today. On the new site we add a prominent "Genuine Parts Finder" menu item, homepage search block and a branded landing page, then either embed the finder or link to it on a matching subdomain (for example parts.mainlinecycles.co). The approach is confirmed with C9 in discovery.
Timing depends on how quickly C9 enables API access. Weeks start from signed proposal and deposit.
| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| C9 has no live API to push orders back into C9 POS | High | Confirm in week 1. Fallback is a staff order email in C9-ready format, with stock sync every 15 minutes to limit overselling. |
| Delays getting C9 API access enabled | High | Mainline requests access on sign-off. Design and build continue in parallel using sample data. |
| Many SKUs without images or descriptions | Medium | Only complete products go live. Remaining parts are reached through the Parts Finder. Optional content enrichment as a later phase. |
| Size and colour variants not grouped in the feed | Medium | Check for item_group_id in discovery. If missing, group by naming rules or import as simple products. |
| Large catalogue slows the site or sync | Medium | Managed hosting with object caching, batched background jobs, changed-records-only writes. |
| Final price or freight unknown at checkout | Low | Authorise payment at checkout and capture after staff review, matching C9's current process. |
| Loss of search rankings on migration | Low | Full crawl, 301 redirect map, and post-launch Search Console monitoring. |
| Parts Finder embed restricted by C9 | Low | Fall back to a branded subdomain link with matching header and navigation. |
These can be quoted separately if required.
OEM diagrams remain on C9.
Writing descriptions or sourcing images for C9 SKUs that lack them.
Unless available from C9 or a listings platform (to be assessed).
eBay, Amazon or similar integrations.
Enquiry form included; real-time workshop scheduling is not.
SEO, Google Ads and social media management after launch.
Mainline reviews this scope and flags any changes.
Mainline contacts C9 to enable API access and confirm order write-back.
Genesis FX issues final pricing once C9 data and API capability are confirmed.
API formats and authentication, rate limits and refresh frequency, whether orders can be pushed into C9 POS, total SKU count and image coverage, whether the Merchant feed includes brand, GTIN and item_group_id, any customer or trade pricing, and the best way to embed or link the Genuine Parts Finder.