Crocs is one of the world’s top non-athletic footwear brands. With over 100 million pairs of shoes sold per year and annual sales surpassing $3 billion, delivering an exceptional customer experience is paramount.
Scott Deitz, the Senior Director of eCommerce Technical Operations, oversees various critical responsibilities, including managing back-end integrations, transactional site operations, and order management system development for Crocs’ global eCommerce sites.
As Crocs intensified its flash sales and collaborated with celebrities like Post Malone and Justin Bieber, the company encountered an unforeseen surge in automated traffic and fraudulent activities.
Scott recalls, “We weren’t expecting the amount of bots and the automated attacks. They got into our APIs before we launched our events. Bots were getting in and placing orders before the products went live. That was a shock to us.”
These incidents disrupted the seamless customer experience that Crocs aimed to provide, prompting Scott and his team to seek a more robust bot defense solution.
Using a rudimentary WAF and an embedded CDN, the team was limited by their tools’ static nature and lack of visibility.
Frustrated, Scott’s team began the search for a new bot mitigation solution. The team quickly learned that Kasada detected and stopped bot attacks that other solutions couldn’t.
“We launched Kasada with our CDN’s bot mitigation in front, then Kasada, and then another instance. We’d see things get through one solution, then hit Kasada, and be blocked.”
“We had definitive proof that Kasada was effective and worked much better than the [other] bot mitigation product,” Scott asserted.
“So we added Kasada alongside our CDN. We had them both for a while and then began running the collabs with Kasada in front.”
Crocs chose Kasada as their bot mitigation solution due to the team. Kasada’s impressive expertise and comprehensive threat intelligence set them apart from competitive solutions.
“I was impressed with that level of attention and not just, ‘Oh, here’s some software to block bots.’ Instead, the Kasada team proactively said, ‘We saw this,’ and was able to dive into a deeper discussion.”
”Kasada really knows what’s going on in the bot and automated fraud space. The solution, threat intelligence, and technical skills of the team are impressive. We didn’t see any threat intel from other bot mitigation solutions or CDN providers,” Scott said.
“I was impressed with that level of attention and not just, ‘Oh, here’s some software to block bots.’ Instead, the Kasada team proactively said, ‘We saw this,’ and was able to dive into a deeper discussion.”
With Kasada, Crocs was able to cease automated attacks, including scraping, login fraud, carding attacks, and gift card fraud, that the previous anti-bot solution couldn’t.
Results include:
100x increase in legitimate web traffic with minimal infrastructure changes
Stopped automated attacks and fraud that the previous solution couldn’t
Exposed and mitigated vulnerabilities with actionable threat intelligence
Protects customer data, improving brand loyalty and reputation
Gained valuable visibility from a responsive and trustworthy team, always available to help
100x
increase in flash sale traffic
Outcomes:
Scraping: Prior to using Kasada, Crocs faced issues with rampant scraping, where automated bots would access their website, mobile apps, and APIs and negatively impact revenue, customer satisfaction, and business analytics.
“At first no one seemed to care about the scraping until we connected it with all these copycat sites showing our exact design. It looks like Crocs, but it wasn’t. We had an analytics team just looking at traffic, and all of it was traffic. They couldn’t decipher what was what. It was just a bunch of traffic that looked legitimate.”
After implementing Kasada’s solution, the team at Crocs was able to identify the severity of the scraping threat and obtain cleaner analytics by filtering out the automated bot traffic. This helped them halt scraping activities, ultimately leading to better website performance and accurate analytics.
Login Fraud: Crocs was vulnerable to brute-force login attacks that posed a significant risk to customer data. These attacks involve trying multiple username and password combinations until a successful login is achieved. Kasada’s solution effectively put an end to these attacks, providing enhanced security for customer information and safeguarding their sensitive data.
Carding Attacks: Fraudsters were using stolen credit card numbers to execute fraudulent transactions, posing a threat to Crocs’ customers, inventory, and brand reputation. After implementing Kasada’s solutions, the carding attacks ceased, thereby protecting both Crocs and its customers from financial losses and ensuring the integrity of their inventory and brand reputation.
Gift Card Fraud: Crocs also experienced gift card fraud, where fraudsters exploit weaknesses in gift card systems to defraud the company. Kasada’s solution effectively protected Crocs from gift card fraud and other downstream fraud instances, saving the company time and money that would otherwise be lost to fraudulent activities.
“We fully trust Kasada to mitigate bots and automated fraud, and we don’t see issues with bots anymore.”
Business benefits: Optimized User experience, brand equity, and revenue growth
Kasada’s solution empowers Crocs to execute day-to-day operations and high-profile sales events without concerns about bot attacks.
Scott expressed, “I don’t worry about bots anymore. I can sleep better at night without worrying about the automated attacks. That’s worth something to me. It’s insurance against things. You don’t want to wait until something bad happens.”
Crocs gained the following business benefits as a Kasada customer:
Improved Analytics: By effectively removing bot traffic, Crocs’ analytics team can now gain a better understanding of their site’s actual traffic and user behavior. This reliable and accurate data empowers them to make more informed business decisions and optimize their operations. Kasada provides valuable insights and data, enabling Crocs to continuously improve their customer experience and site performance.
Inventory and Revenue Protection: With Kasada’s robust security measures in place, Crocs can safeguard their revenue streams by preventing fraudulent activities, such as carding attacks and gift card fraud. This protection not only preserves their financial resources but also ensures that their inventory remains secure, reducing losses caused by fraudulent transactions.
Ease of Use: Kasada’s solution streamlines the order processing system and ensures the smooth functionality of the website and applications. By automating the detection and mitigation of bot attacks, Crocs no longer needs to perform manual traffic analysis, saving time and resources. This ease of use contributes to a more efficient and frictionless user experience.
Brand Protection: Kasada’s solution streamlines the order processing system and ensures the smooth functionality of the website and applications. By automating the detection and mitigation of bot attacks, Crocs no longer needs to perform manual traffic analysis, saving time and resources. This ease of use contributes to a more efficient and frictionless user experience.
Looking Ahead
Crocs plans to expand Kasada’s protection to new business expansions, such as mobile apps and additional instances.
“Business is still projected to keep going up. We’ll be using Kasada more and more as we grow,” Scott declared.
By leveraging Kasada’s expertise and threat intelligence, Crocs successfully addressed the challenge of automated traffic and fraud, elevating their customer journey, protecting revenue, and reinforcing their brand equity.
“You all have been amazing, from Sam the CEO, the technical team, the account team, the customer success team. Everybody is super responsive and always there when we need you,” Scott concluded.