The founders of Koio had a vision of building the perfect shoe, one they could wear to any occasion. Koio’s styles run the gamut from classic Italian leather sneakers, through high tops and even kids shoes. Each pair of shoes is made of the finest calf-skin leathers, and all Koio shoes are hand-finished by craftspeople in the Italian village of Civitanova.
Koio’s Pain and How Passport Helped
Despite having an extremely fast-growing U.S. business, Koio had a frustratingly slow international one. Aside from the normal issues with dead tracking numbers and high customer support costs, they had consistent issues with duties and taxes. Their customer experience was best-in-class from beautiful social media, highly complementary press and a great website. But their post-purchase experience was lacking.
Passport built Koio a custom duties prepaid solution. Through a Passport Shopify app Koio is now able to share the true cost of shipping with all their consumers. Koio’s international customers now get:
- In-cart Shopify integration for duties and taxes
- Passport-led, high-touch customer support
- Branded tracking experience for remarketing
Koio now offers their clients a fully landed cost, leveling up the experience and lowering CX support costs
When Packages Get Held in Customs, Costs Run High
- Consumers take time to visit the post office, pay the unexpected duties and taxes, and get hit with a customs processing fee of $10 or more.
- Koio receives customer support tickets; unfortunately customs-related tickets are very complex (read: expensive).
- “Refusals” have an extremely high cost of lost revenue, as well as re-import fees when packages are returned-to-sender.
- Most importantly for a brand that is known for a luxury experience, conversion rates are hit. Bad experiences limit word-of-mouth and repurchases.
The Passport Solution
Aside from the custom duty and tax solution, Passport also provides Koio with the following benefits
- High-touch customer support through a branded tracking experience
- Proactive notifications about exceptions, such as when a door tag is left because a customer isn’t home to receive a shipment
- Strategic help and pricing analysis related to shipping and global expansion
Now that international shipping lives up to Koio’s brand standards going global is becoming a key part of their growth.
“Passport built us a custom Shopify app during the holiday rush, and helped us improve the experience for our international fans.”
Chris Wichert
Co-Founder, KOIO