Ruby on Rails is an adaptable framework that’s suitable for a wide range of web applications. We wanted to highlight some of the companies using Rails in specific industry: eCommerce. With all of the noise in the development community about Ruby on Rails being an outdated (or worse...dead) framework, most of the companies we mention are just a few years old, and are thriving. Companies ranging from mega Fortune 100 companies to new startups in eCommerce count on Ruby on Rails, so we wanted to highlight a few.
So if you’re looking for companies to explore for future career moves within Ruby on Rails, or you want to see how other companies like yours are using Rails, read on.
Instacart
Growing quick-delivery grocery shopping service Instacart is built upon Ruby on Rails. Admirably, Instacart has been a big proponent for giving back to the open source dev community from the beginning. You can view all of their open source contributions on this page. If you like hearing about how dev teams are solving their real-world business problems, the team at Instacart writes about their lessons on their blog on Medium – I loved this article about scaling with multiple Postgres databases.
Dollar Shave Club
The subscription shaving market is a constantly growing one, but Dollar Shave Club is one of the originals – and also one of the most successful. When Dollar Shave Club was purchased by Unilever a few years ago, one of their development team members gave a peek inside their team and tech stack in this article. You can see some of the open source tools they use to support their business on their Github page. Still growing, Dollar Shave Club has several openings on their engineering team.
Plated
You might be noticing a trend of subscription companies on this list. Plated is one of them. Plated puts together tasty meals with pre-portioned ingredients to save you time in the kitchen, plus skip the “What’s for dinner?” debate. Their team has been great about documenting their challenges and team growth on their engineering blog. If you’re interested in working for Plated in the future, you can even view the Plated Recruiting Coding challenge on their Github – and yes, they’re hiring.
P.S. We’re familiar with building a subscription service with Ruby on Rails, which you can read more about here.
BarkBox
The dog toy and accessory subscription box company, Barkbox, has blown up in the last several years due to a smart marketing strategy (including viral dog videos) and stellar customer service. Barkbox uses Ruby on Rails to power their eCommerce business – creating new features for the passionate dog parents that use their site, and managing inventory between a wide set of subscription box options. They’re presently a growing company, with engineers in Columbus, OH and New York City, and a range of open positions on the development team.
Greetabl
Sending thoughtful care packages is rewarding. Standing in line at the post office to ship packages is not. Greetabl helps you choose the right package for any person, whether that’s candy, tiny candles, a flask, or single-serve margarita mixes, and sends it off to them with your personal message. The end result is a happy gift recipient (Trust me, I’ve received one before – they’re wonderful!) and less time spent on packaging and shipping for the gift-giver. Their site is built on Rails with Spree, ElasticSearch, Bootstrap, and PostgreSQL, among other tools. A solid tech foundation has helped Greetabl scale and grow their market share in a crowded area.
Brandless
Brandless seeks to shake up modern shopping by eliminating the “brand tax” that raises prices on household items ranging from hand lotion to snack crackers. Everything the company sells is just $3. Seriously. Brandless launched mid-2017 and has grown its product base since. Brandless utilizes a combination of frameworks we’re very familiar with – Ruby on Rails (Spree Commerce), React.js, and Redux – collectively creating a seamless and reliable shopping experience for its users. Brandless is expanding its engineering team at its San Francisco HQ.
JoyMode
In the realm of eCommerce companies that sell things, we’re featuring one that rents out things to prevent their customers from buying items: Joymode. If you need a grill to throw a one-time barbecue, or an outdoor projector setup for a special movie night, you can save money by renting from Joymode instead of buying an item that will sit in your closet most of the year. They’ve recently added a Joy{code} blog, where you’ll be able to learn more about the tech side of how they work. And if you’re interested in working at Joymode, you can learn more about their culture and tech stack directly from one of their engineers.
Glossier
As a beauty and skincare company with a cult-like following, Glossier needs reliable tech to keep its eCommerce machine running smoothly. Apart from pop-up events and showrooms in three cities, Glossier sells its products exclusively online. You can learn more about their team and structure on their engineering blog, Into the Tech – like how they’ve built an engineering ladder to help team members grow.
Blue Bottle Coffee
Blue Bottle Coffee made big waves in the coffee industry a few years ago, being a big force in the growth of the craft coffee movement. Their cafes are currently only in New York City and the Bay Area, but the demand for Blue Bottle Coffee allowed them to scale to an eCommerce business built on Spree Commerce. If you’re a caffeine enthusiast and Rails specialist, Blue Bottle is currently hiring for their engineering team based in Oakland, California.
This is just a short list of successful eCommerce companies that use Ruby on Rails every day. Do you work for an eCommerce company that uses Ruby on Rails? Or do you know of any you’ve admired from afar? Leave a comment below. We’re always looking for interesting developers to interview and talk shop with.