Expanding e-commerce operations to international markets is a challenge for online retailers. The logistics of localizing product prices in a country’s currency, and integrating shipping and delivery options can be difficult even for the biggest retailers in the world. Enter FiftyOne, an e-commerce platform that helps power international expansion and operations for online retailers.
FiftyOne streamlines all aspects of the international shopping experience for retailers. FiftyOne will manage all aspects of the international order life cycle, including multi-currency pricing and payment processing, landed cost calculation, customs clearance and brokerage, international fraud management, international logistics orchestration, and more.
Here’s how it works. With FiftyOne’s software powering the backend of the site, a localized homepage will appears automatically, welcoming the customer with a flag denoting their country and their selected currency.
At checkout, a customer can view a guaranteed order total in their own currency, including international duties (if applicable), taxes, and delivery costs, with a guaranteed exchange rate. Similar to the normal experience of purchasing an item online, the customer receives an e-mail directly from FiftyOne with the order number, estimated delivery timeframe and a link to the online tracking system.
FiftyOne has an impressive client base of retailers who are using its platform for global expansion. Barneys New York, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and others have all used FiftyOne.
As more retailers see sales opportunity on the web outside of the U.S., FiftyOne is growing like gangbusters, In 2010, FiftyOne increased its annual sales by 310% year-over-year, from $25 million in 2009 to $77 million in 2010.
This year the company is on a trajectory to increase its sales by more than 250%.