E Commerce Management
Refill commerce with deposits, returns, and a PDP that tells the truth about the bottle
Lumen sold refills on a theme that could not do deposits. We built catalog and checkout for first bottle, refill, and return credit without a Shopify app pile.
The operational problem
The first order needed a bottle. The second did not. Returns of glass needed a credit. The theme had one product type.
Support explained the business model on every other order. Margins disappeared into “make it right” refunds.
What was breaking down
- Customers charged for a bottle they already owned
- Return credits issued by hand
- PDP copy that contradicted checkout
How Striders Tech approached it
We modeled ownership of the vessel as state, not as a discount code, and made the PDP show what this customer will be charged.
What we built
- Vessel vs refill as related products with state
- Deposit and return credit in checkout
- PDP price that depends on account history
- Support screen showing vessel ownership
Results the team can measure
- Wrong bottle charges near zero for returning customers
- Return credits no longer a spreadsheet
- PDP matches the invoice
Who this case study is for
Refill and reuse brands whose storefront was not designed for a bottle that comes back.
Lumen Beauty operates in beauty / cpg. The work is a custom system designed around their process, not a generic template with extra fields bolted on.
What changed after the system went live
near zero for returning customers
no longer a spreadsheet
matches the invoice