When we first started Dista, buying directly from India felt like an obstacle course. Brands wanted to reach customers abroad. Customers wanted Indian products delivered fast. But between compliance, shipping, payments, and returns, there was chaos.

Everyone had a “piece” of the solution. One company handled duties. Another did shipping labels. Someone else offered payment tools. None of it worked together. And when things broke, no one raised their hand.

That’s when it became crystal clear: cross-border D2C can’t be stitched together. It has to be built as one system. Full-stack. End-to-end. No hand-offs, no finger-pointing: just ownership.

Why Fragmented Systems Fail Brands

Over the last few years, a bunch of providers have popped up offering slices of the cross-border puzzle—paperwork generation, courier integrations, maybe a duties calculator. But brands still end up managing a tangled web of tools and vendors.

Here’s what that leads to:

• Missing product codes or documentation that holds up customs

• Lack of localized payments and poor checkout conversions

• No visibility into whether shipments cleared or failed

• Clunky or non-existent return options

• Worst of all: when something goes wrong (be it classification, packages stuck in customs, payment issues, chargebacks), no one takes responsibility

It’s not just frustrating—it kills momentum.

What Full-Stack Really Means

Running cross-border D2C successfully means connecting all the dots—from the moment someone clicks “Buy Now” to the moment the product is in their hands (and even if it comes back as a return).

That’s what we do at Dista. We handle:

• Compliance baked into your catalog (HSN/FDA mapping, product-level restrictions)

• Multi-currency, local checkout flows (not just currency conversion—real native UX)

• Customs and shipping auto-synced with product data

• Returns that actually work internationally

• And most importantly: we’re accountable for the whole thing and don't run away after providing the software to manage the pieces

You’re not juggling vendors. You’re not emailing support tickets across continents. You’re working with one team that takes full responsibility.

Why We Built It This Way

We didn’t start by building software for others. We started by building for ourselves. Distacart is our own marketplace—we process thousands of orders every week across 40+ countries. We didn’t have the luxury of “hope it works.” We had to build tech that actually delivers.

We didn’t want customers stuck in customs, or brands losing sleep over every cross-border shipment. So we built Dista as a platform that powers Distacart—and now, powers dozens of brands looking to expand globally.

That’s the difference: we run on what we build. Our team is in the trenches daily. We fix what breaks. We improve what lags. And we hold ourselves accountable to real-world outcomes.

This Is About Ownership

One of the biggest lessons we've learned: global D2C only works when someone takes full ownership, responsibility, and accountability. That means if a package is delayed or stuck, we’re on it. If a duty is miscalculated, we fix it. If a return needs processing, we handle it—no vendor runarounds. No excuses.

And when regulations shift (like they recently did in the U.S.), we adapt fast. We reclassify products—Rewire shipping rules. Update customs mapping. We’ve done this across hundreds of thousands of SKUs and built systems to scale as the landscape evolves.

We also handle our own fulfillment—not because it’s easy, but because it gives us control. It’s how we guarantee service levels, handle exceptions, and make sure the customer experience reflects well on your brand.

That’s how we’ve earned a 4.9/5 rating on Google from thousands of global shoppers. Feel free to read what they’re saying on our reviews page.

Competing with Ourselves, Every Day

We know the space is heating up. More tools are launching. More competitors are trying to do what we do.

But here’s the truth: we don’t compete with them. We compete with ourselves. Every day, we ask: how do we make this more reliable, more scalable, more brand-friendly?

That’s what keeps us going. And that’s why our partners stick with us.

A Note to Global Brands

If you’re building a global brand and still relying on disconnected vendors to run your cross-border ops, it’s time to rethink.

You deserve a partner that:

• Builds the tech

• Runs the logistics

• Handles compliance

• Powers local payments

• And stands by every package that leaves the warehouse

• Takes end-to-end responsibility and accountability for the whole piece and puts money where the mouth is

That’s what we do at Dista. And we’d love to do it with you.

Choose a platform that eats its own dog food. Choose a partner that’s in the trenches with you. Choose a full-stack path to global growth.

Let’s build a future where going global doesn’t mean giving up control—but gaining it.