London-based The Fold is regularly cited as the go-to staple of chic, versatile women’s workwear, celebrated for its precise tailoring and quality craftsmanship.
International e-commerce has always been a focus for the brand. However, The Fold was not able to provide international customers with an optimal shopping experience, hindering the brand’s ability to fully capitalise on its worldwide sales potential.
The Fold could only present prices and accept payments in GBP and USD. International online shoppers in all markets — except the US, had to pay in GBP and estimate the purchase price in their local currency. This exposed them to possible transaction fees and unknown international currency rates.
Also, The Fold could not provide international customers with a guaranteed final cost of their purchase. Customers had to pay duties and tax upon delivery, and the brand was unable to inform them in advance what this added cost would be. After Brexit, this caused much friction for EU customers, who were not used to being charged VAT and duties when buying from a UK brand.
The brand could only provide limited payment options – credit cards and PayPal. In addition, the brand had limited and expensive international shipping offerings, and in certain markets could only offer standard delivery. Moreover, The Fold had a cumbersome returns process: international customers, except those from the US, had to pay and handle returns on their own.
The pioneering fashion label searched for a cost-effective, advanced e-commerce solution that would enable it to provide global shoppers with a best-in-class localised shopping experience from browsing to delivery, increase its D2C international online sales and achieve its e-commerce business KPIs.
To address The Fold’s goals and challenges and effectively leverage its worldwide exposure, the brand chose to partner with Global-e, the world’s leading platform to enable and accelerate global, direct-to-consumer e-commerce.
With Global-e, The Fold can now offer online shoppers in over 200 destinations worldwide an advanced seamless, localised shopping experience aligned with the brand’s strategy and tailored to the specific characteristics of each market. This includes:
- Localised messaging – Customisable messaging for each market, promoting key marketing messages such as free shipping over a specific threshold.
- Local pricing in local currencies – Product pricing is set per market according to The Fold’s business strategy and rounded according to local conventions. Customers can browse and pay in their local currency. 100+ currencies are supported.
- Multilingual checkout page – Shoppers can complete their purchase in their native language. 30+ languages are supported.
- Guaranteed landed cost – A flexible approach to duties and taxes based on best practices per market and capabilities that provide:
– Pricing inclusive of duties and taxes, informing customers that no additional costs will be added at checkout or upon delivery.
– Prices inclusive of duties with local tax calculation and mandatory prepayment at checkout.
– Calculation of all taxes and duties prepayment option displayed at checkout.
- Multiple shipping options at competitive rates – An optimised shipping proposition, set pet market according to the brand’s business strategy.
- A wide range of local and alternative payment options – Shoppers can opt to pay with their preferred method, 150+ payment methods are supported.
- Easy and transparent return process – Including free international returns.
Led by a dedicated Success Manager, Global-e works consistently with The Fold to provide ongoing support, best practice recommendations and local market insights based on big-data analysis. This enables The Fold to continually optimise its international offering, further grow cross-border e-commerce sales, and achieve its business KPIs.
Global-e enables The Fold to automatically update its market proposition according to changes in local tax and duty regulations, keeping its international store compliant while continuing to provide a seamless online experience for its international shoppers.
