The Luxury Therapist
From a failing app to a fully functional marketplace automation tool in just two weeks.
Industry
E-Commerce
Project
Rescue an incomplete marketplace integration app, automate listings, modernize the tech stack
Country
Timeline
About the Client
Tracy Shafran, a registered nurse turned entrepreneur, founded Whiskey Kiss Brands to combine her love of fashion with sustainable sourcing. The brand includes Whiskey Kiss Boutique, The Luxury Therapist, and The Community Closet. The Luxury Therapist is a small e-commerce business offering U.S. customers authentic, pre-owned designer clothing, shoes, and accessories from European labels. Tracy sells her curated pieces both through her own websites and across several online marketplaces.
Challenge
As Tracy’s business grew, her inventory reached thousands of items, making manual listings on niche marketplaces unmanageable. To solve this, she hired freelance developers to create an automation tool — but the result was a slow, unreliable app that couldn’t connect to Grailed, one of her key sales platforms. When the original team walked away, she was left with an unfinished product and no one willing to take it over.
Most developers advised rebuilding the app from scratch, citing its poor technology foundation — an option Tracy couldn’t afford. She needed a partner who could take over the project, revive the existing app, make it usable, and help her move forward without starting over. That’s when she turned to Krononsoft.
Project goals & challenges:
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Get the marketplace integration app running on the existing tech stack.
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Enable automated posting of inventory to the Grailed marketplace, including conversion of European clothing sizes to U.S. standards.
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Deliver a functional, budget-friendly solution quickly so the client could start listing products and selling.
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Plan and execute modernization for better performance, reliability, and scalability.
Solution
Our team began by thoroughly reviewing the existing app and its architecture. We found it was built on Google Apps Script and used Google Sheets to process and convert inventory data — a setup not designed to handle large data volumes. This caused slow performance, limited functionality, and recurring errors.
After we explained these issues and possible risks, Tracy chose to proceed with the current stack and work within its constraints. With that decision made, we focused on getting the app operational and integrating it with Grailed as quickly as possible.
Phase 1: App Recovery and Launch
Our developer fixed the integration issues preventing the app from posting listings and made it stable enough for everyday use.
Functionality Delivered:
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Automated product listings. The app uploads CSV price lists from suppliers, automatically converts data, and posts listings on the Grailed marketplace.
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Admin panel. A dashboard for identifying and correcting inventory errors, such as mismatched designer names, and for managing prices.
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Discounts management. Functionality for setting and adjusting discounts.
Effort: 1 developer · 2 weeks
The revived app allowed Tracy to begin selling on Grailed and start generating income. However, as expected, the limitations of the Google Apps Script led to recurring technical issues.
Phase 2: Full Modernization
To ensure long-term reliability and enable future growth, we proposed a full modernization plan, which the client approved.
Tech Stack Modernization:
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Transition to robust technologies. Rebuilt the app using PostgreSQL, Node.js, and Nest.js, replicating all functionality on a stronger, more scalable foundation.
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Launch & testing. Deployed, tested in real conditions, and fine-tuned for optimal performance.
Effort: 1 developer · 1 week
The new version ran significantly faster, performed more reliably, and provided a strong foundation for future development.
Phase 3: Advanced Integration
In the next two-week phase, our team:
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Connected the app directly to the supplier’s ERP system via API, replacing slow CSV imports.
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Added automated product posting to the Closo wholesale trading platform.
Results
Krononsoft transformed a slow, unreliable script into a dependable marketplace integration tool that helped Tracy streamline her listings, save time, and grow her sustainable fashion business. Within just two weeks, she was able to start posting products on Grailed and generate revenue. Our developers not only fixed critical issues but also set the stage for future improvements and integrations.
Key outcomes:
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Breaking a deadlock. Krononsoft took on a project that other developers refused to handle, picked up where the previous team left off and improved upon it.
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Fast app recovery. A partially built, failing Google Apps Script app was completed, refined, and launched in just two weeks.
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Affordable modernization. The app was fully rebuilt on a modern tech stack in one week—compared to six months of work by two freelancers on the prior version.
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Reliable, easy-to-use solution. The modernized app delivered dramatically improved performance, stability, and ease of use.
