The Retail Guide to Data and AI Infrastructure

A practical worksheet to help commerce teams scope the cost, effort, and trade-offs of building in-house vs. buying.

Commerce teams know the struggle: today’s stacks are overloaded with tools, fragile integrations, and rising costs. Meanwhile, AI pilots fail 95% of the time — not because the tech is broken, but because the foundation isn’t there.

We created this guide to help you scope the real cost, effort, and trade-offs of building in-house vs. buying. It’s a practical worksheet designed for retail and ecommerce leaders who need to cut through complexity and make confident decisions.

We’ll walk you through:

• People and resourcing
• Technical scope
• Time, cost, and complexity
• Final gut check

With key insights in mind:

• 35% of commerce tech projects fail to meet objectives
• 95% of enterprise AI pilots never deliver measurable impact
• Technical debt adds 10–20% overhead to every project

Our take? Build what’s unique. Buy what already works. Chord provides a commerce-native foundation that’s already built, battle-tested, and AI-ready — so your team can move faster without unnecessary complexity.