Case Studies/Cercle
Cercle
A fashion rental platform that lets users rent clothing, shoes, and accessories from lenders — promoting borrow-over-buy sustainability at a fraction of retail cost.
60%
Fewer manual workflows
Client requirement
Cercle.uk needed a high-end sustainable fashion rental marketplace — lenders listing luxury items for income, renters accessing those items at lower cost, with reliable payments, returns, clothing renewal, and multi-channel sales.
Challenges & solutions
What we inherited, and exactly how each constraint was resolved.
- Challenge
Slow loads frustrated users, raised bounce rates, and cut engagement and sales.
SolutionWe optimized product data handling and image caching, and moved heavy work to Sidekiq so the UI stays responsive.
- Challenge
Without store credits in the payment module, customers were stuck with cash, cards, or transfers — less flexible checkout and weaker loyalty after refunds.
SolutionWe built a wallet / store-credits flow for refunds and cancellations, with encryption, secure tokenization, and regular security reviews.
- Challenge
Expanding reach meant users expected seamless shopping on social channels as well as the site.
SolutionWe integrated Facebook e-commerce APIs so catalogues, inventory, and orders stay in sync between the site and Facebook.
- Challenge
Renewing worn rental clothes for resale needed a reliable partner for cleaning, repair, and logistics.
SolutionWe connected Advanced Clothing Solutions (ACS) so used items ship from the renter, get renewed, and return to inventory.
- Challenge
Bugs left delivery and payment statuses wrong, causing mismanagement between business and users.
SolutionWe fixed Solidus admin configuration and status code paths so delivery and payment states stay accurate.
- Challenge
Tight deadlines risked delayed launches and quality cuts.
SolutionWe ran agile sprints with smaller iterations and regular checkpoints to protect quality and ship on time.
Key features
Advanced search & filters
Powerful search with filters, caching, and indexing so renters find the right item quickly.
Rental reminders
Push notifications near rental end so customers return items and route them through ACS renewal.
Admin operations (Solidus)
Admin tools for listings, users, cancel/refund policies, taxation, and shipping.
ACS integration
Clothing renewal pipeline with Advanced Clothing Solutions after each rental cycle.
Order management
One system consolidating orders across sales channels.
Location-based delivery charges
Checkout calculates delivery from address and basket size, with postal-code and city suggestions as the user types.
Results
Faster performance cut bounce rates and supported higher sales.
Ordering and returning used products became a smoother, lower-friction flow.
Better filtering helped users match preferences and decide faster.
Admin tools for discount codes and promotions made campaign ops more efficient.
Stripe plus store credits improved refund UX and kept spend on-platform.
Technology Stack
Frontend
HTML5
React
Next.jsEmotion Styled ComponentsBackend
Ruby on RailsSidekiqDatabase
PostgreSQL
RedisHosting
Version control
GitHubIntegrations
Stripe
SendGrid
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