The online sales world just got wider for apparel brand Perry Ellis International Inc. The U.S.-based retailer today announced it will offer international shipping on all its e-commerce sites.
The brand, which sells online via e-commerce sites perryellis.com, originalpenguin.com, rafaellasportswear.com, cubavera.com and candccalifornia.com, now ships to more than 100 countries, including Canada, Australia, Mexico, Japan and many others across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The retailer, which says the selection of countries it ships to varies for each web site, is using FiftyOne Global Ecommerce for help in taking and delivering international orders. Perry Ellis is the latest in a string of recent deals the vendor has made with retailers to help them sell online overseas. Just last week, FiftyOne announced a deal with Ann Inc., which operates e-commerce sites AnnTaylor.com and Loft.com. The company also announced contracts with upscale department store Neiman Marcus in November and Tommy Bahama in July.
To use the service, a foreign shopper chooses her country at the top of the home page. When she goes to check out, it shows her the total price for her order in her local currency along with all fees including shipping, handling and VAT, or value added tax, the equivalent of sales tax. It also notifies her of when she can expect her order to arrive and the shipping provider.
For example, a pair of men’s loafers going to Australia that cost 82.20 Australian dollars (U.S. $85.43) should arrive in six-to-10 business days via DHL and will cost a total of 102.60 Australian dollars (U.S. $ 106.63) when fees, taxes and delivery charges are included. Using FiftyOne, Perry Ellis sites can accept more than 60 currencies via Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, American Express and China UnionPay, a large payment card network in China.
Perry Ellis ships packages headed for foreign destinations to FiftyOne’s U.S. hub in Columbus, OH, using the same carrier it would for a domestic order. FiftyOne takes assembles the necessary customs documents and ships the order to the global shopper. As well as managing currency conversions, payment processing and customs clearance and brokerage, FiftyOne also offers international fraud management and logistics, it says.
To promote its global shipping, each Perry Ellis site offered free international shipping on orders of U.S. $150 and more through yesterday.
“Having this system in place allows us as a company to continue our mission to consistently innovate, create and revolutionize the way we communicate and interact with our ever-growing consumer base,” says Oscar Feldenkreis, president of Perry Ellis International. “In an increasingly global marketplace, we don’t want to settle for being competitive; we want to be pioneers of new channels of distribution and new methods of marketing. This initiative opens the doors for many inventive ideas we have up our fashionable sleeves.”
Ann Inc. is No. 92 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. Neiman Marcus is No. 41.