Fanatics improves accuracy of customer address data
Fanatics is ensuring its captures the correct shipping address during online checkout.
The sports licensing and online merchandise retailer is reducing failed and late deliveries, as a result of accelerating the speed and accuracy of its entry of shipping addresses during checkout. Engaging a high volume of online traffic, Fanatics experienced consumer address data sometimes entering its system with typos, in multiple languages, and in different formats.
This lack of standardized and verified data decreased the quality of customer information in Fanatics’ systems, making it hard for the retailer to match addresses to the right customer profile. This difficulty in reconciling customer address data caused downstream deliverability issues on the order management side.
Fanatics determined it needed a tool that would help validate customer address data during the checkout process, which would in turn enhance its e-commerce order fulfillment processes. Ultimately, the company decided to leverage the Loqate Verify solution.
The Loqate Verify solution provides USPS address verification services, as well as mapping, geospatial data sources and other features designed to match input addresses against customer reference data. The application is also programmed to quickly retrieve valid and complete addresses for customers.
In addition, by deploying the Loqate Capture API on its website and mobile app, Fanatics has been able to improve the quality of address data entering internal systems, which has helped reduce failed and late deliveries by 50%. The company can also better deliver a fast and easy online checkout flow for global customers, as Capture enables shoppers find and match their address in as few as three keystrokes.
Fanatics is enhancing the accuracy and speed of its customer data collection process as it expands its business in a big way. In January 2022, Fanatics acquired Topps’ sports and entertainment division. The deal, whose terms were not revealed but which industry sources put at some $500 million, includes Topps’ name and all parts of its worldwide trading cards and collectibles business — both the physical and digital divisions — which sells in more than 100 countries and has physical operations in 10 countries, including the U.K., Germany, Brazil, Italy and Japan.
In August, Fanatics raised $325 million from new and existing investors, with the new investors including hip-hop and entertainment mogul Jay Z. The latest round of funding valued the company at $18 billion.
Fanatics has also been branching out in the licensed sports merchandise category through partnerships with other retailers. These include a deal to offer thousands of sports products on the new Nordstrom.com Sports Fan Shop, with Fanatics fulfilling and ship the orders to customers. The company has also entered into similar partnerships with Macy’s, Walmart and J.C. Penney.
“We ship merchandise to thousands of customers every week,” said Sandeep Suresh Mehta, staff product manager at Fanatics. “Loqate’s solution helps us create a seamless online order experience that is quick, easy, and gets deliveries to the right location.”