Lacoste Japan lifts authorization approval rate to record-high with Riskified

The Challenge

Lacoste Japan was facing suboptimal authorization approval rates and an overly complex fraud management process. Approximately 30% of its ecommerce transactions were being declined, resulting in lost revenue and frustrated customers. The company’s rules-based fraud prevention system relied heavily on manual reviews and proved difficult to manage. 

Adjusting rules to reduce fraud exposure led to legitimate transactions being blocked, while loosening restrictions allowed fraudulent orders to pass through. This constant balancing act placed a growing operational burden on the team without fully eliminating chargebacks. At the same time, the introduction of Japan’s EMV 3D Secure mandate raised concerns that additional authentication steps could introduce checkout friction and increase cart abandonment.

Lacoste Japan needed a more intelligent approach to fraud prevention—one that could accurately identify genuine customers, adapt to evolving fraud patterns, and maintain compliance without sacrificing conversion rates.

The Solution

Based in part on Riskified’s performance for other Japanese retailers, Lacoste Japan implemented Riskified’s machine learning model to analyze each transaction in real time, approving legitimate orders while blocking fraudulent activity before authorization.

The platform was deployed in about six weeks, allowing Lacoste Japan to quickly reduce its reliance on manual reviews.
And Riskified’s success-based pricing model, which charges only for approved transactions, aligned fraud prevention costs directly with revenue performance.

In parallel and with Riskified’s support, the company obtained approval for “Pattern 1” operations, enabling transactions to be processed without step-up authentication. This allowed Lacoste Japan to remain compliant with EMV 3D while preserving a seamless checkout experience for legitimate customers.

Within three months of adopting Riskified, manual fraud reviews were reduced to a small number of high-risk cases, and approval rates for Japan-issued cards consistently reached 90%. With fraud management largely automated, Lacoste Japan was able to refocus its efforts on enhancing site usability, product presentation, and customer service.