Kai Li, REVOLVE's Global mastermind, talks DTC fulfillment optimization like no other
Kai Li from REVOLVE and the guru of cross-border ecommerce, spills his secret sauce on fulfillment, returns, duty-drawbacks and more.
Southern California-based Revolve, which also owns FWRD.com, has always had customers outside the U.S., thanks to its visibility in Google searches and social media. But with Kai's arrival, the company has undertaken measures to focus on worldwide customers' experience, including reorganizing its international team. The company has opened logistics hubs to serve Europe, Asia and Oceania, offered free returns in certain geographies, and studied its customers' behavior in various markets to better serve them. The results? Shorter shipping times, happier customers, and booming international growth rates.
Customer-first
According to Kai Li, Revolve's VP of International, the company's international growth strategy places the customer's needs at the center of its approach. "You have to understand your value proposition and how it changes when you go into a different market," says Li. "You re-evaluate in order to understand your customer, and make the customer experience a high priority. A customer in China is not identical to a U.S. customer in the U.S."
Adjust your value proposition and surface content that meets their unique needs
Revolve uses local versions of its website in different regions, giving local consumers different options. "You adjust to the customer," Li says. "In the U.S., people shop by styles. Asians shop by brands. We sort the most popular products on top when you come to the Revolve site. We use a weighted mechanism — brand score, style score, size availability score. And we can customize that by region."
Logistics/Shipping Highlights
- Faster, cheaper or free shipping is always better — but predictability is equally important
- Revolve ships to over 150 countries from a warehouse in California
- Four factors influence inventory positioning: prediction accuracy, opportunity cost, customer satisfaction benefits, and shipping cost savings
- Hybrid cargo + last-mile carrier setup delivers 3–4 day transit at a fraction of top-tier carrier costs
- Free returns are now offered in more than 30 countries
- Duty drawback operations run at large scale globally
On return rates:
"There is a balance between attraction and friction. A low return rate is an indication that our service in the region is less than adequate and prevented customers from trying our products." Return rates vary by country: ~10% in Japan, 35–40% in Australia, 50% in the UK, and 65% in Germany.