Global Logistics

U.S. retailers who want to build a meaningful international business need to make shipping goods across borders and oceans a straightforward and painless process with no surprises for the consumer. They need to instill confidence in international customers and make it just as easy for them to order from the U.S. as it is to order from ecommerce sites in their own country.

FiftyOne does this for you. We make it simple to fulfill international orders.

Throughout the fulfillment process, FiftyOne manages all of the international aspects of transactions as a transparent and trusted third-party partner.

How We Do It

Before a customer ever sees a country flag or an in-currency price, FiftyOne lays important groundwork that prepares your catalog for international fulfillment. We do this by screening your entire product catalog. We screen for U.S. export restrictions (controlled goods), items that are restricted for import into certain countries (restricted outright, by quantity, by value, by ingredient, or by material), or items that have shipping-method restrictions. FiftyOne also makes an assessment of the duties each product is likely to attract in every country your organization intends to support via FiftyOne.

When an international customer wants to place an order on a FiftyOne-enabled website, our system does all the heavy lifting. The customer sees a guaranteed order total in their own local currency, with a compelling guarantee that there will be no extra charges. Behind the scenes, FiftyOne tells your fulfillment center to ship the package to FiftyOne’s domestic U.S. hub. You use your existing U.S. carriers – exactly as you would for a domestic customer - and after that, we handle everything else.

This includes managing landed cost calculations, international trade compliance, customs clearance, and final delivery.

The following describes a typical sequence of FiftyOne logistics events:

1. Merchant Ships: The merchant ships the parcel from their fulfillment center to the FiftyOne U.S. Hub.
2. Parcel Arrives: The parcel is received at the FiftyOne U.S. Hub.
3. Parcel Processing Complete: Parcel-handling activities are completed. This event triggers international buyer billing events for any SKUs that were in the parcel.
4. Parcel Shipped to Destination Country: The parcel is aggregated and line haul dispatched to respective destination trade zone.
5. Shipping Details Electronically Submitted: Last mile delivery agent receives advanced electronic notification of parcel.
6. International Delivery Agent Events: These events will vary by end delivery agent. They can include receipt scans, sorting facility scans, and “out for delivery” scans.
7. Parcel Successfully Delivered: Confirmation that the parcel has been delivered to the international buyer

How it Works: Inside the FiftyOne Logistic Network

As you fulfill orders and parcels to FiftyOne, advance shipment notifications are communicated to FiftyOne via API, or gleaned by FiftyOne through its interception and parsing of your existing domestic shipment confirmation e-mails. In either case, FiftyOne learns of U.S. carrier tracking numbers affixed to the outside of incoming parcels, and parcel contents expressed as a list of SKUs. FiftyOne processes these advanced shipment notifications and notifies its logistics network of parcels en route and their respective contents.

FiftyOne handles all of the following:

• Pre-orders & Backorders: FiftyOne offers full support for pre-orders and backorders, and guarantees the exchange rates used within any fully landed cost quote to an international buyer.
• Parcel Protection: FiftyOne offers Parcel Protection from the time that we take possession of any parcel (at the FiftyOne U.S. Hub), such that FiftyOne makes customers whole in the rare case of the loss of any parcel, or the mishandling of any parcel causing damage to its contents.
• FiftyOne Hub Processing & Trade Corridor Line Haul: The FiftyOne U.S. hub is where processing and international parcel preparation takes place. Parcels are received by FiftyOne from a retailer’s U.S. carrier and queued for processing by our hub operators. Once the parcel has been processed successfully, it triggers an international buyer billing event. Country of origin information is obtained and/or verified, and parcel contents delineated for accurate customs declarations. The buyer’s credit card is charged for the items processed and a shipping confirmation email is sent to the buyer (this email also contains a link to track the parcel’s progress).
• Freight Aggregation & Customs Clearance: Parcels are aggregated by trade zone and tendered to the appropriate carrier for international delivery. Harmonized codes are assigned by customs brokers Any applicable duty & taxes are paid by FiftyOne to ensure the parcel’s seamless transition. FiftyOne includes any and all necessary paperwork for shipment including commercial manifests, control documents, and container-level customs documents. Once cleared through customs in the destination trade zone, carrier tracking events are conveyed to the international customer so they can track the parcel's short journey.

The FiftyOne system aggregates tracking events from our retailers and logistics network partners. This centralized set of events is exposed to the international consumer, as well as to the retailer’s customer service representatives, through the FiftyOne solution’s parcel tracking tools.

FiftyOne also provides an International Parcel Status tracking widget for optional inclusion in a retailer’s website. With this International Parcel Status widget embedded, an international buyer can retrieve the status of their parcel directly from the retailer’s website.