Last updated on:

April 2, 2026

How Asset Tracking and Asset Management Work in circuly: Feature Focused Guide for Physical Product Subscription Businesses

TABLE OF CONTENT

Topics covered: Products vs assets · Serial number tracking · Asset lifecycle statuses · Per-asset insights and KPIs · Repair management · Returns and swaps · Lost and stolen products · Stock management · Asset import

Who this article is for

You run, or are building a subscription business for physical products. Your catalogue might include e-bikes, baby strollers, consumer electronics, medical devices, furniture, or appliances. Unlike a SaaS business, every unit you send out is a physical asset with real value and you need to know exactly where it is, what condition it is in, how much revenue it has generated, and when it is expected back.

This article explains how circuly handles asset tracking and asset management end to end, from the moment a product is added to your catalogue through to its final disposition — returned, bought out, or written off.

The foundation: Understanding the difference between products and assets in circuly

Before getting into how tracking works, it is important to understand how circuly separates two related but distinct concepts: products and assets.

Products — the SKU level

A product in circuly represents a product type or variant, identified by a SKU. Think of it as the template. A product called "iPhone 14 Pro — Graphite — 128GB" is one product entry with one SKU. You might have 100 physical units of that product in your fleet — but in the product catalogue, it is a single entry.

The Products tab in circuly stores and organises your catalogue at this level. Each product record holds:

Title, SKU, Brand, Category, and product Type
Thumbnail image
Pricing information: Purchase price, MSRP, and Buyout retail price
Stock count and total number of registered assets
Variants — each with their own SKU, pricing, and per-status breakdown (In rental / In stock / In repair / Bought out)
Inventory and integration settings: whether the product is active and whether orders can be created against it

Variants are part of the product. The differentiator between a product and an asset is the boundary between SKU and serial number.

A practical example: You sell e-bike subscriptions. Your product is "Urban E-Bike Model X." Its variants might be "Black — Step-through" and "White — Diamond frame," each with their own SKU and monthly price. Across both variants, you might have 200 physical bikes in the field. Each of those 200 bikes is an individual asset, tracked by its own unique frame number.

Assets — the serial number level

An asset in circuly is a single, individually identifiable physical unit, tracked by its serial number. Every asset is linked to a product SKU, but it exists as its own record in the system.

The Assets tab is where you see, filter, and manage your fleet at this granular level. Each asset record shows:

Serial number
Current location (automatically pulled from the customer's shipping address)
Current status
The customer it is assigned to (if rented out)
Expiry date of the current subscription

This distinction — SKU for the product type, serial number for the individual unit — is what makes circuly's asset tracking operationally meaningful. It is not just stock management. It is unit-level visibility across your entire fleet.

Adding assets to circuly: The import process

Before circuly can track your assets, each unit needs to be registered in the system. This is done via a CSV import in the Assets tab.

The import template requires four fields per asset:

FieldRequiredDescriptionskuYesMust match an existing product SKU in your catalogueproduct_nameYesThe name of the product this asset belongs toserial_numberYesThe unique identifier for this physical unitstatusYesThe initial status of the asset at time of import

On import, you define the starting status for each asset. The valid options are: in stock, rented out, to repair, stolen, bought out, reserved.

For existing fleets — businesses that already have products in the field when they start using circuly — this means you can import your entire fleet in one operation, with each unit's current real-world status accurately reflected from day one.

Assets can also be added and managed programmatically via the circuly API, which enables automated provisioning workflows for businesses with large or frequently changing fleets.

The asset lifecycle: Statuses and what they mean

Every asset in circuly moves through a defined set of statuses over its life. These statuses are not just labels — they control which workflows are active, what the customer sees, and what your operations team needs to action.

In Stock

The asset is in your warehouse and available for the next rental cycle. Only assets with "in stock" status can be reserved for new orders.

Reserved

The asset has been pre-assigned to a specific order but the subscription has not yet been created. Reservation happens automatically when the Reserve serial number setting is enabled (Settings > Checkout > End checkout). This ensures the unit cannot be allocated to another customer between order placement and subscription creation.

Rented Out

The subscription has been created and the asset is with the customer. The asset record shows the customer's name, ID, and location (the city derived from their shipping address). It also shows the subscription expiry date, giving your operations team visibility into when to expect the product back.

Pending Return

The subscription is ending or has been cancelled, and the product is expected back. This status is the trigger for the entire return workflow — without it, the product does not appear in the Returns tab, return emails are not sent, and the return process does not begin. See the full explanation of pending return for detail on when this is set automatically versus manually.

To Repair

The asset has been returned and is going through your inspection and refurbishment process before it can be rented out again. The asset appears in the Repair List, where your team works through the configured repair questions to assess condition, log repair costs, and clear the unit for the next cycle.

Bought Out

The customer has purchased the asset and it will not be returned. The unit is removed from your available inventory and its record is closed out in the asset list.

Lost / Stolen

The asset has been reported as lost or stolen. It is added to a separate Lost Items list, is not expected to return, and does not trigger any return workflow. No duplicate billing occurs.

Status Flow at a Glance

In Stock → Reserved → Rented Out → Pending Return → To Repair → In Stock → Bought Out → Lost / Stolen

Where the asset Is: location tracking

The Asset List includes a Location column that shows where each rented-out asset currently is. This is populated automatically from the customer's shipping address at the time the subscription is created — no manual entry required.

In practice, this means you can open the asset list and see at a glance that one unit is in Hamburg, another in Cologne, and a third is in your warehouse. For businesses with large fleets spread across multiple cities or regions, this provides an immediate operational overview without any additional data entry.

Important scope note: circuly's location tracking is address-based, not GPS-based. circuly does not have built-in GPS or IoT integration. If your business requires real-time physical location tracking (e.g. for high-value equipment or vehicles), that would need to be handled by a separate GPS or telematics system. However, circuly's API and webhook infrastructure can be used to connect such systems and pass location data back into your workflows.

Per-asset insights: KPIs at the serial number level

This is one of the most operationally valuable features of circuly's asset management. Every individual asset has its own Insights panel, which tracks the following KPIs over the asset's entire lifetime in your fleet:

Revenue — the total amount charged to customers for this specific unit across all rental cycles
Renting cycles — the number of times this unit has been rented out to a customer
Repair cost (€) — the total cost of repairs logged against this unit
Number of repairs — how many times this unit has gone through your repair process
Unique customers — how many different customers have rented this unit

These metrics answer questions that matter for fleet economics: Is this unit generating enough revenue to justify its maintenance cost? How many cycles has it been through — is it approaching end of economic life? Does this unit have a disproportionately high repair rate compared to others of the same product type?

For businesses managing fleets of physical assets worth hundreds or thousands of euros per unit, this per-serial-number visibility is what makes informed decisions about refurbishment, retirement, and reinvestment possible.

Asset tracking across the product catalogue: The variant-level view

At the product level, circuly aggregates asset status data across all units of a given variant. From the Products tab, clicking into a product shows a breakdown per variant:

How many units of that variant are In rental
How many are In stock
How many are In repair
How many have been Bought out

This gives your operations and purchasing teams a live inventory picture at the catalogue level — without needing to count individual assets. If a variant is showing zero in stock and ten in rental, you know there is no available inventory for new orders of that configuration.

Repair management: Tracking condition and cost per asset

When a product is returned, it typically needs to be inspected and potentially repaired or refurbished before it can be sent to the next customer. circuly supports a fully configurable repair workflow that is tied directly to each asset's record.

You define the repair process yourself using a multi-step form builder in the circuly Hub. Each step can include:

Radio group questions (e.g. "Is the product functional?" Yes / No / Partially)
Dropdown selects for condition grading
Text fields for notes and observations
Conditional logic — additional questions appear based on previous answers

The repair workflow records the time spent and the cost associated with each repair. This data feeds directly into the per-asset Insights panel, so over time you build a complete maintenance history for every unit in your fleet.

For businesses operating in regulated categories — medical devices, for example — this repair and condition-logging workflow provides the documented quality control record that is often required before a refurbished unit can be re-deployed. For consumer product businesses, it is the foundation of understanding each asset's lifetime value.

See the full guide on setting up repair questions for configuration detail.

Returns: How asset status updates through the return workflow

The return process is where asset tracking and subscription management are most tightly intertwined. Here is how circuly handles the most common return scenarios.

Standard return (Subscription ends normally)

When a subscription reaches its end date and auto-renew is off, circuly automatically sets the asset status to Pending Return. The customer receives a return instruction email. Once the product arrives back at your warehouse, your team marks it as returned in the Returns tab. The asset moves to To Repair, the subscription status changes to Ended, and the recurring payment schedule is stopped.

For a step-by-step walkthrough see Return Handling: Mark as Returned and the full return workflow guide.

Early cancellation

If a customer cancels before their subscription end date, the team manually sets the subscription to Pending Return from the circuly Hub. From that point the standard return workflow applies — the customer has a defined window (the "Return Until" period) to send the product back. If it is not returned within that window, circuly can automatically reactivate the subscription and resume billing.

Buyout during or after subscription

If a customer wants to purchase the product rather than return it, circuly handles this through a buyout workflow. The outstanding amount is calculated (buyout price minus total already paid), the customer is charged, and the asset status is updated to Bought Out. The unit is removed from available inventory in your shop system. Buyouts can be initiated by the customer through the Self-Service Portal, or manually by your team for custom-priced cases.

During return processing, there is also a direct Mark as Bought option in the Returns tab — a shortcut for cases where the customer decides to keep the product at the point of return handling, without going through a separate buyout flow. See When Should You Mark an Asset as Returned and When as Bought?

Product swap (damaged or malfunctioning)

If a product needs to be replaced mid-subscription — because it is damaged, malfunctioning, or the wrong item was shipped — circuly handles this through a product swap workflow. The original asset is set to Pending Return (or Lost if it cannot come back), a new order is automatically created for the replacement unit, and a new subscription is set up. Both assets are tracked separately throughout the process.

Lost or stolen product

If a product is reported as lost or stolen, circuly marks the asset with a Lost status and adds it to a separate Lost Items list. The subscription is ended, no return is expected, and no duplicate billing is triggered. See the guide on handling lost or stolen products.

Stock management: Preventing overselling

A common operational risk for physical subscription businesses is taking an order for a product that is not actually available. circuly addresses this with a stock check setting at the checkout level.

When enabled (Settings > Checkout > Pre Checkout > Check system stock), circuly runs a stock query as soon as a customer lands on the checkout page. If the selected product has no available units in stock, the customer sees an error message and cannot proceed to payment. Stock levels are kept in sync between your shop system and the circuly Hub automatically.

For detail on how this works see the Check System Stock setting guide.

How circuly asset tracking applies across product categories

circuly tracks assets by serial number — but what counts as a serial number is entirely defined by the merchant. Any unique identifier the business already uses can serve this purpose:

E-bikes and cargo bikes — tracked by frame number, which is the industry-standard identifier and is often required for insurance and theft recovery
Medical devices and equipment — tracked by device ID or regulatory serial number, supporting the documentation requirements for re-deployment in clinical settings
Baby gear and strollers — tracked by manufacturer serial number or internal stock code
Consumer electronics — tracked by IMEI, device serial number, or SKU + batch combination
Furniture and appliances — tracked by internal asset tag or manufacturer serial number

The flexibility is intentional. circuly does not impose a serial number format. Whatever identifier your business already uses — or wants to use — can be imported and tracked. The system's job is to connect that identifier to a customer, a subscription, a revenue figure, and a status.

What circuly asset tracking does not cover

To set accurate expectations:

GPS / real-time location tracking is not built into circuly. Location in the asset list reflects the customer's registered address, not a live GPS position.
IoT and sensor integration is not native, but can be connected via circuly's webhooks or API for businesses that need it.
Condition monitoring beyond the repair workflow is not automated — condition assessment is a manual process guided by your configured repair questions.
circuly is purpose-built for subscription asset tracking, not general enterprise asset management. For a direct comparison, see Subscription Management Software vs Asset Tracking Software.

How circuly asset tracking handles real-world scenarios

Scenario: An e-bike subscription business with 500 bikes in the field

‍The operations team opens the Asset List, filters by status "to repair," and sees 12 bikes waiting for inspection. They work through the repair queue, logging condition and cost for each unit. The per-asset Insights panel shows which bikes have been through more than four rental cycles and are accumulating high repair costs — informing the decision to retire and sell those units rather than re-deploy them.

Scenario: A medical equipment rental company onboarding an existing fleet

‍Before going live with circuly, the team exports their existing asset register and maps it to the import template — SKU, product name, serial number, and current status (some in stock, some rented out, a few in repair). After a single CSV upload, circuly reflects the real state of the fleet from day one.

Scenario: A customer reports their rented stroller was stolen

‍The operations team finds the subscription in the Hub, initiates a product swap, and marks the original unit as lost. The stolen unit is added to the Lost Items list, the subscription is ended, and a new order is created for the replacement. No return is expected for the original unit and no duplicate billing is triggered.

Scenario: A customer at the end of their laptop subscription wants to buy it

‍The customer initiates a buyout from their Self-Service Portal. circuly calculates the outstanding amount, charges it, updates the asset status to Bought Out, and removes the unit from available inventory. The subscription ends cleanly with a full financial record attached to that serial number.

Scenario: A product is returned but the team isn't sure which unit it is

‍The team searches the Returns tab by serial number. Finding the correct record, they mark it as returned, which triggers the repair workflow and sends the customer their subscription-ended confirmation email automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does circuly track every physical unit individually?

‍Yes. Every asset is tracked by its own serial number, which is the unique identifier that links a physical unit to a customer, a subscription, a revenue history, and a current status. There is no fleet-level averaging — every unit has its own record.

What KPIs does circuly track per asset?

‍For each individual asset, circuly tracks: total revenue generated, number of renting cycles, total repair cost, number of repairs, and number of unique customers who have rented it. These are visible in the Insights panel on each asset's record.

Where does the location data in the asset list come from?

‍Location is pulled automatically from the customer's shipping address when the subscription is created. No manual entry is needed. It reflects the customer's registered address, not a live GPS position.

Does circuly support GPS tracking?

‍No — GPS tracking is not built into circuly. Location in the system reflects the customer's registered address. Businesses that need real-time physical tracking can connect GPS or telematics systems via circuly's API or webhooks.

How do I add my existing fleet to circuly?

‍Via CSV import in the Assets tab. The template requires four fields per unit: SKU, product name, serial number, and initial status. You can set the starting status of each unit at import — useful for businesses migrating an existing fleet where some units are already with customers and some are in repair.

What happens to an asset's record when a customer buys the product?

‍The asset status is updated to Bought Out. It is removed from available inventory in your shop system. The full revenue and rental history remains attached to that serial number's record in circuly.

Can the same serial number be reused?

‍No. Each serial number is a unique identifier for a specific physical unit. If a serial number needs to be corrected (e.g. due to a data entry error), it can be replaced in the circuly Hub from either the Orders or Subscriptions tab.

What happens to an asset's tracking record if it is lost or stolen?

‍The asset is marked as Lost and moved to a separate Lost Items list. The subscription is ended, no return is expected, and billing is not continued against the lost unit. A replacement subscription can be created as a separate order.

Can I track assets without a CMS or shop system?

‍Yes. circuly's Products tab functions as a standalone product catalogue. You can define products, variants, pricing, and images directly in circuly — independent of a connected CMS or shop system. This makes it possible to operate a headless or CMS-independent subscription storefront using circuly's API to feed product data to a frontend.

How does circuly handle repair tracking?

‍circuly includes a configurable repair workflow. You define a multi-step inspection form with your own questions, condition grades, and cost fields. Each time a returned asset goes through this workflow, the repair cost and count are recorded and reflected in the asset's Insights panel.