Olukai Case Study
Reduced Return Fraud and Bad Actors
Overview
Premium footwear that honors Hawaiian culture
OluKai, founded to create premium footwear that honors Hawaiian culture, integrates native island-inspired stories into its design and community investment. As part of Archipelago Brands, including Melin, Roark, and Kaenon, they aimed to elevate customer experience, foster deeper connections, and strengthen relationships with their most loyal fans.
See Our Accurate Real-Time Fraud Screening for ecommerce in Action
See Our Accurate Real-Time Fraud Screening for ecommerce in Action
The Challenge
Manual Processes Missing the Bigger Picture
Before partnering with Wyllo, Archipelago Brands’ fraud detection relied on Shopify tools combined with manual cross-checks using white pages. These methods were ill-equipped to catch evolving fraud tactics like syndicated fraud rings and advanced address manipulation.
Key pain points included:
- No unified view across brands or fraud types
- Difficulty detecting fraud syndicates and identity linkages
- Fraudulent returns processed before items were received, due to lenient Loop return settings
- High manual effort with limited impact
- Frustration from operations and finance teams over losses and lack of control
Despite initial beliefs that fraud was minimal, the team recognized the urgent need for better tools and intelligence.
Why Wyllo?
Lightweight, Fast, and Effective
Archipelago Brands evaluated multiple fraud prevention vendors, including large fraud providers. Wyllo was chosen for its:
Easy and fast integration with Shopify and existing middleware
Unified fraud dashboard covering all brands and channels
Lightweight, modular deployment that didn’t disrupt operations
Immediate ability to deliver ROI
The Results
From Reactive to Proactive Fraud Prevention
Wyllo was deployed quickly with a plug and play deployment, integrating seamlessly into Archipelago Brands’ Shopify and middleware ecosystem. Key capabilities included:
- Significantly reduced return fraud and bad actors: Real-time risk scores enabling prevention of return fraudsters, bad resellers, and other bad actors.
- Saving hours of manual reviews daily: The digital ops and customer service team is freed from tedious fraud lookups, saving hours a day.
- Faster fulfillment: Legitimate orders ship without delay, improving customer experience
- Significant fraud reduction: Fraudulent returns dropped sharply, even those that bypass typical flags
- Holistic fraud visibility: A single source of truth across brands and systems like Loop and Shopify
- Routing AI tools based on risk score: Directing high-risk orders to humans for manual review and low-risk orders to AI agent for customer support
- Reduced investigation times by 60% with our clustering and risk explanations
Wyllo has been able to transform a manual process into an automated system preventing fraud, saving time, and dedicating more time to loyal customers
What's Next?
Deeper Automation and More Data Touchpoints
Archipelago Brands is expanding Wyllo’s reach by:
- Integrating fraud intelligence into customer support tools like Gorgias and Sierra for real-time claims prevention
- Connecting data from order routing and warehousing to improve detection accuracy
- Exploring dynamic checkout messaging and personalized size recommendations based on behavior signals
- Developing advanced playbooks to reward good customers while penalizing bad actors
Advice to Other Brands
“If you’re on Shopify, Wyllo is a no-brainer. The value is in both the tech and the team. Implementation took days, not weeks. It’s not just a platform — it’s the support and customization behind it. You think fraud isn’t happening to you until you see the data. Don’t wait. Let Wyllo show you what you’re missing.”
