Cereza Latina — Sensual y Segura
Cereza Latina — formerly known as Desire By Emily — is a lingerie, sleepwear, and lifestyle fashion brand based in Heredia, Costa Rica. The brand has built a loyal following around its philosophy of “creando felicidad, inspirando confianza” (creating happiness, inspiring confidence), offering curated collections across lingerie, pijamas, vestidos, bikinis, and accessories.
As part of a broader rebrand — transitioning from Desire By Emily to Cereza Latina — the company needed its digital storefront to evolve alongside its new identity. This wasn’t simply a matter of swapping a logo; it meant rethinking how the brand presented itself online, how customers discovered and shopped its growing catalog, and how the entire buying journey felt from first click to final delivery.
The Challenge
Rebranding an established e-commerce business carries real risk. Existing customers need to recognize and trust the new identity, while new visitors need to be won over immediately — lingerie and intimate apparel are categories where visual presentation, discretion, and a sense of quality directly influence whether someone completes a purchase.
Cereza Latina came to this project with a clear but demanding set of needs:
A brand-worthy visual identity. The previous site needed a ground-up rethink to reflect the new Cereza Latina name and aesthetic — elegant, sensual, and confidence-driven, without tipping into anything that felt generic or template-driven. In a category as visually sensitive as lingerie, the difference between “boutique” and “bargain bin” often comes down to spacing, typography, and photographic presentation.
A growing, multi-category catalog. The product range spans lingerie, sleepwear, dresses, bikinis, and accessories — each with its own browsing behavior and customer intent. The site needed navigation and collection structure that let shoppers move naturally between categories without feeling lost in a sprawling catalog.
Truly local commerce, not a bolted-on adaptation. Costa Rican shoppers expect payment options like SINPE Móvil alongside standard cards and PayPal, and delivery through trusted local channels like Correos de Costa Rica and Uber Flash. Many e-commerce builds treat localization as an afterthought — a checkbox feature. Cereza Latina needed it built into the core experience.
Scalability for what comes next. As a brand actively investing in growth — expanding collections, running promotions, building an influencer collaboration pipeline — the underlying platform needed to support that growth without requiring a rebuild down the line.
A foundation of trust. In a sensitive product category, trust signals matter enormously: clear policies, transparent pricing in local currency (CRC), straightforward contact options, and a checkout process that feels secure and frictionless from start to finish.
Our Approach
Stepforadder partnered with Cereza Latina to address each of these needs holistically — treating design, development, and localization not as separate workstreams, but as one connected effort to translate brand vision into a working, converting store.
1. Brand-First Design Direction
Before writing a line of code, our design team focused on understanding what Cereza Latina wanted to feel like to a customer — elegant, warm, and self-assured. That translated into a visual system built around clean, high-quality product photography, generous negative space, and restrained typography that lets the products and brand voice do the talking rather than competing with heavy UI elements. The goal was a storefront that reads as boutique and editorial, not mass-market.
2. Intuitive, Category-Aware Navigation
With a catalog spanning lingerie, pijamas, vestidos, bikinis, and accessories, we designed an information architecture that respects how customers actually shop each category — whether they’re browsing broadly or arriving with a specific product in mind. Clear collection pages, curated “you might like” product recommendations, and a simplified path from homepage to checkout all work together to reduce friction and keep shoppers engaged rather than overwhelmed.
3. Deep Localization, Not Surface-Level Adaptation
This is where the project went beyond a typical Shopify build. We configured the store’s checkout to support the full range of payment methods Costa Rican shoppers expect and trust — credit and debit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, and SINPE Móvil — removing a common point of cart abandonment for international platforms operating in Latin American markets. On the fulfillment side, we integrated shipping workflows for both Correos de Costa Rica (with scheduled dispatch days and clearly communicated delivery windows) and Uber Flash for same-day delivery within the Greater Metropolitan Area — giving customers flexibility that matches how they already move through their daily lives.
4. A Scalable Shopify Foundation
We built the store on Shopify specifically for its balance of flexibility and reliability — giving Cereza Latina a platform that’s easy for their internal team to manage day-to-day (adding products, running promotions, managing inventory) while giving Stepforadder’s development team the flexibility to customize deeply where it mattered: navigation, checkout logic, and localized payment/shipping integrations.
5. Trust and Policy Transparency
Recognizing the sensitivity of the product category, we made sure key trust signals were front and center — clear shipping cost tables, transparent return and exchange policies (including compliance with Costa Rican Ministry of Health regulations around lingerie returns), and easy-to-find contact channels including WhatsApp — so customers always know exactly what to expect before, during, and after checkout.
The Result
The outcome is a storefront that feels distinctly Cereza Latina: elegant, warm, and unmistakably confident, while functioning as a genuinely efficient piece of e-commerce infrastructure underneath. Customers can move fluidly between collections, complete checkout using the payment method they already trust, and choose delivery options that fit their schedule — all wrapped in a visual experience that reflects the quality of what they’re buying.
More broadly, this project demonstrates what a rebrand can achieve when the digital execution matches the ambition behind it. Cereza Latina didn’t just get a new name and a new look — they got a storefront built to support real business growth: easier product discovery, smoother checkout, fewer abandoned carts due to payment friction, and a platform that can keep pace with new collections and campaigns.
Ready to Build an E-Commerce Experience Your Customers Will Trust?
Cereza Latina’s transformation shows what’s possible when brand identity, thoughtful UX, and market-aware development come together in one build. Whether you’re rebranding, launching a new online store, or simply outgrowing your current platform, Stepforadder can help you create a digital experience that reflects your brand and converts your visitors into loyal customers.
From Shopify development and UI/UX design to localized payment and logistics integrations, our team builds e-commerce experiences engineered around your market, your customers, and your growth goals.
Let’s talk about what your brand’s next chapter online could look like.