Platform Architecture & Revenue Model
A unified B2B/B2C platform — connecting dealers, consumers, and warehouse operations through a modern web stack.
1 The Problem & The Solution
Current Challenges
- No direct-to-consumer sales channel — consumers cannot purchase from us online directly
- Current site hosted on CIMCloud with GoDaddy name servers — limited SEO capabilities, poor search engine visibility, and restricted customization that makes it difficult to compete in organic search results
- Minimal to no SEO — product pages lack unique title tags, meta descriptions, structured data (JSON-LD), and keyword-optimized content, resulting in poor search engine visibility across 2,900+ products
- No social media integration — RHOX and DoubleTake have growing social presence (Facebook, YouTube) with no connection to the website for traffic or engagement
- Website doesn't showcase Red Hawk's brand investment in RHOX & DoubleTake
Proposed Solution
- One site serves both consumers AND dealers with role-based pricing
- Consumers shop → enter shipping address → select a dealer at checkout → Red Hawk ships direct, dealer gets billed at their cost
- Dealers log in for cost pricing, shared org accounts, and self-service ordering
- Real-time inventory pulled from Great Plains & Edge WMS for both NC & TN warehouses
- Opens an entirely new revenue stream — grows dealer sales while expanding the customer base to everyone, without competing against our own dealer network
2 Platform Architecture
How data flows from warehouse to customer screen
🏭 Great Plains
ERP & financials. Product master, pricing tiers, dealer accounts, invoicing, AP/AR.
📦 Edge WMS
Warehouse management. Real-time inventory for NC (DoubleTake) and TN (all other parts).
📂 Data Bridge (optional middle layer)
GP and Edge WMS export files (CSV, XML, or JSON) to a shared location — FTP, cloud folder, or scheduled database view. Strapi picks up the data automatically. No direct API integration required from IT.
🧠 Strapi CMS (Content Hub)
The content layer. Manages website pages, brand content, SEO, and user accounts. Reads pricing and inventory from the data bridge. Pushes order info back for fulfillment. Any team member can edit site content without a developer.
🌐 Cloudflare Pages + KV (The Website)
Global CDN. 2,950+ pages served instantly worldwide. Handles any traffic spike. KV layer for instant content overrides without rebuild. On-screen editing for admin users.
💳 Stripe Connect Platform
Payment processing. Consumers pay via card. Stripe routes funds directly to the onboarded dealer's bank account. Red Hawk earns a 0.5% platform fee on every transaction automatically.
3 Stripe Connect — Payment Platform Revenue
Red Hawk as a payment platform: dealers sign up on Stripe Connect, consumers pay with credit card, Red Hawk earns a platform fee on every transaction.
👤 Consumer
Shops on golfcart.com, adds to cart, enters shipping address, selects a dealer at checkout
💳 Stripe Connect
Processes credit card payment. Red Hawk takes 0.5% platform fee. The remaining balance goes to settlement to dealer.
🏪 Dealer
Gets billed at dealer cost for the product. Can accept consumer payments through the platform.
Platform Fee Revenue Projection (0.5% of CC volume)
| Annual CC Volume | Monthly Volume | Platform Fee (0.5%) | Annual Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $833 | $4.17/mo | $50 |
| $50,000 | $4,167 | $20.83/mo | $250 |
| $100,000 | $8,333 | $41.67/mo | $500 |
| $1,000,000 | $83,333 | $416.67/mo | $5,000 |
| $5,000,000 | $416,667 | $2,083/mo | $25,000 |
| $10,000,000 | $833,333 | $4,167/mo | $50,000 |
Platform fee is passive income — earned on every consumer transaction processed through the platform, with zero cost to Red Hawk. Scales linearly with volume.
4 Infrastructure Cost at Scale
Total platform cost regardless of traffic volume
5 What's Built vs. What Needs IT
The frontend and business logic are complete. IT connects the data pipes.
✅ Built & Working Today (Demo)
- Full B2B/B2C storefront with demo catalog
- Consumer and dealer account login flows
- Consumer checkout with dealer selection by state
- Dual pricing display (MSRP for consumers, cost pricing for dealers)
- Split-warehouse display (NC / TN)
- Dealer locator with interactive map
- Kit builder (tire + wheel combos)
- Brand showcase pages (RHOX, DoubleTake)
- Full-text search across products, fitment, and OEM cross-references
- SEO-optimized: unique titles, meta descriptions, and JSON-LD schema on every page
- Mobile responsive across all pages
- On-screen content editor for non-technical users
- Fitment charts & OEM cross-reference tables on product pages
- Order history and account management
🔧 Needs IT Support (low impact)
- Great Plains: Scheduled export of pricing & product data to a shared location (CSV/FTP — GP already supports this)
- Edge WMS: Scheduled inventory export to same shared location
- Orders: Website pushes drop-ship order files back to shared location — each order formatted as a drop ship from the consumer's selected dealer account to the consumer's shipping address, ready for GP import
- Account logic: Consumer vs. dealer account types and authentication managed through Strapi CMS — role-based access controls, dealer tier pricing rules, and org-level account sharing all configured in the CMS admin
- Order routing: Fulfillment logic (which warehouse ships, split shipments) handled by the website layer based on product brand — can be refined by WMS rules if needed
- Stripe Connect setup for payment processing
- DNS cutover to production golfcart.com
6 The Consumer → Dealer Journey
How the new revenue channel works without disrupting existing dealer relationships
1. Shop
Consumer browses golfcart.com. Sees retail MSRP pricing. Adds products to cart.
2. Checkout
Enters shipping address. Selects from Red Hawk dealers in their state to fulfill the order.
3. Payment
Pays by credit card via Stripe Connect. Red Hawk earns 0.5% platform fee.
4. Fulfillment
Red Hawk ships direct from NC or TN warehouse. Dealer gets billed at their account cost. Customer contacts dealer for service.
Why This Works — For Red Hawk AND Our Dealers
- Grows dealer sales: Every consumer order flows through a dealer — these are new orders dealers never would have had on their own
- Zero effort for dealers: Red Hawk handles fulfillment, shipping, and the website. Dealers handle customer relationships and service.
- Sales tax handled: Consumer's selected dealer provides their tax certificate — sales tax is calculated based on dealer's state nexus
- Dealer gets the customer relationship: All post-sale support, returns, and warranty go through the dealer — building their customer base
- Expands our reach: Opens golfcart.com to every consumer in the country while strengthening — not competing with — our existing dealer network
7 Rollout Strategy
The site can launch before any dealers are onboarded to Stripe Connect — it handles each phase gracefully.
Phase 1 — Site Live, B2B Ready Immediately
- Dealers can use the site immediately — log in for cost pricing, place orders billed through their GP account, manage their org and users
- Consumers browse, search, build kits, see MSRP pricing — full catalog experience
- Consumer checkout not yet available — directed to contact their local dealer via dealer locator
- Dealer locator drives phone/email leads to dealers in the meantime
- B2C checkout activates as dealers onboard to Stripe Connect
Phase 2 — Pilot Dealers Onboarded
- First 5–10 willing dealers complete Stripe Connect signup
- Consumers in those dealers' states can complete checkout online
- Consumers in states without onboarded dealers are directed to contact their local Red Hawk dealer to place an order — with dealer contact info and a link to the dealer locator
- Validate the full order flow end-to-end with real transactions
Phase 3 — Full Rollout
- All willing dealers onboarded
- Full consumer checkout nationwide
- DNS cutover to production golfcart.com
- Platform fee revenue scales with volume
Key Point
The site is useful from day one — even with zero dealers onboarded to Stripe Connect. It serves as a modern product catalog, brand showcase, and dealer locator immediately. Consumer purchasing activates state-by-state as dealers complete the simple Stripe Connect onboarding (a 5-minute signup per dealer). The goal is to work closely with our dealer network to onboard dealers in every state, ensuring every consumer has a local dealer option. No big-bang launch required.
8 Security & Compliance
Industry-standard security at every layer — no customer data, payment info, or internal systems are exposed.
🔒 Data Bridge — No Inbound Access
Great Plains and Edge WMS push outbound only to a shared location (SFTP, S3, or secured folder). The website reads from that location. No inbound connections to GP or WMS are ever made. IT's internal systems are never exposed to the internet.
🔐 Cloudflare — Enterprise-Grade Edge
Cloudflare protects 20% of the internet including IBM, Shopify, and Discord. Built-in DDoS protection, WAF (Web Application Firewall), bot mitigation, and SSL/TLS encryption on every request — all included at no extra cost.
💳 Stripe — PCI DSS Level 1
Stripe is a PCI Level 1 Service Provider — the highest level of payment security certification. Red Hawk never sees, stores, or touches credit card numbers. Card data goes directly from the customer's browser to Stripe's servers. Our site only receives a confirmation token.
🛡️ Strapi — Authenticated Access Only
CMS admin access requires authenticated login with role-based permissions. API endpoints are read-only for the website, write-only for authorized admin users. Database is encrypted at rest on Railway's SOC 2 Type II compliant infrastructure.
How Data Flows — Security View
| Connection | Direction | Protocol | Data | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Plains → Data Bridge | Outbound only | SFTP / S3 / Shared folder | Product catalog, pricing, dealer list | None — GP pushes, never accepts inbound |
| Edge WMS → Data Bridge | Outbound only | SFTP / API export | Inventory levels by warehouse | None — WMS pushes, never accepts inbound |
| Strapi → Data Bridge | Read only | SFTP / S3 read | Reads exported files on schedule | None — read-only, no write access to GP/WMS |
| Website → Strapi | HTTPS (encrypted) | REST API + JWT auth | Content, product data, orders | None — standard web API, encrypted |
| Customer → Stripe | Direct (browser → Stripe) | HTTPS + PCI DSS L1 | Credit card number, billing info | None — card data never touches our servers |
| Orders → Data Bridge → GP | Outbound from Strapi | SFTP / file drop | Order confirmations, invoice data | None — GP reads files at its own pace |
Key Takeaway for IT
- No inbound connections to Great Plains or Edge WMS — ever. Internal systems are never exposed.
- Credit card data never touches our infrastructure — Stripe handles PCI compliance end-to-end.
- Industry-standard stack: Cloudflare (serves 20% of the internet), Stripe (used by Amazon, Google, Shopify), Railway (SOC 2 Type II certified).
- Same export pattern IT already uses — if GP can generate a scheduled CSV report, it can feed this website.
- All traffic encrypted via HTTPS/TLS. All admin access requires authentication. All data encrypted at rest.
Prepared for internal review. All data reflects the working demo at redhawk-demo.pages.dev
Platform architecture powered by Cloudflare, Strapi, and Stripe